Progress: 5 of a proposed two digit sum
General Notes: I know, I haven't updated in ages. I have many excuses, but I know you guys won't listen to any of them, which I suppose is justified since that's all I have: excuses. Sorry Wall, I didn't mean to insult you! I meant the wall that didn't respond. Heh. And yes, you are quite right. Exams finished ages ago…I was just lazy. Anyway, thank you all those who reviewed! I'm glad you guys like this story, and as always, read and review!
Music: Butter-fly – Koji Wada; Life Goes On – Gundam Seed Destiny Single; It's My Life – Bon Jovi; Breathe - Prodigy; Someday, someday – Thirsty Merc; Tomorrow – SR-71; Lacrimosa – Sweetbox; Ninja – Jay Chou; In the Name of Father – Jay Chou; Fantasy Impromptu – Chopin; Pathetique - Beethoven

Aeternitas

Chapter Five

Duo was sitting on a pier, feet dangling in the cold lake water. A glance around showed him a empty valley with long grass and flowers of every color of the spectrum, and a massive blue lake in the center. The hills that surrounded the valleys were tall and dominating, completely blocking out any possible views of the outside world. The sky overhead was clear blue, and the sun shone brightly, casting bright rays that failed to warm Duo's skin. No breezes blew, no birds sang. The valley was empty except for him, empty, silent, dead.

As if on cue, the sky suddenly darkened and lightening cracked, promising rain. The valley was thrown into shadow, and all that was beautiful a moment ago dulled in color. The lake turned a steely pewter, and the water temperature simultaneously dropped several degrees. Duo wanted to wrench his legs out of the water, but it seemed that he could not move. Strangely enough, he did not feel panicked at all as he remained sitting, eyes fixed on nothing in particular, only noticing the chill slowly spreading through his body.

Rain fell suddenly, drenching him, but still he remained where he was. His clothes, now saturated in water, clung tightly to him and his hair felt several times heavier. But still, he waited. Waited for something, anything. The realistic part of Duo's brain told the rest of him that it was a pointless wait, that nobody would be coming. But Duo's more stubborn idealistic mind remained fixed on the concept that somebody would come.

We had a promise.

Large ripples spread from the lake, ripples uncaused by the falling rain. Duo's gaze swerved across the lake, trying to pin-point where the disturbance was coming from. Finally, his eyes settled on a darkening form under the surface of the water, a form which was steadily growing larger. Duo was on his feet in an instant, eyes fixed on the dark shadow, heart beating rapidly within his body. There was a flash of light, and Duo's hand flew to his face immediately, shielding his eyes…

Duo Maxwell awoke with a start. For a moment, he was completely disorientated, breathing still harsh and heartbeat rapid. Then he realized he was lying in bed with the quilt half twisted around him, the other half on the floor. The rhythmic sound of rain hitting glass droned on in the background, slowly soothing Duo's agitated nerves. Deliberately slowly, Duo detached himself from the quilt before dragging the rest of it off the floor and throwing it properly over himself. A glance at the window told him that it was sometime early morning, or so he thought. The digital clock on the opposite wall told him otherwise, red digits currently displaying the time as ten-thirty. Duo took another shuddering breath before closing his eyes once again, recalling the dream as best as he could.

It had been so very vivid. The smells of the valley in bloom, the feeling of the rain hitting him, the coldness of the lake water around his feet, he could remember everything as vividly as if he had actually been there. Yet, even as he recalled the valley, he could feel bits of it beginning to fade. Like all dreams, this one was fraying too, so that when Duo finally sat up in his bed half an hour later, all he could remember was a scene featuring a pier by a lake in a valley of brilliantly colored wildflowers.

Duo dressed slowly, distractedly, his mind still swimming with jumbled thoughts. He had no idea why he felt that the dream had been important, save that he did was hence trying to remember more of it. But all he could remember was what the valley looked like. He vaguely recalled waiting for somebody, but perhaps that had been his mind trying to interpret the situation and coming up with the only logical answer it knew. Not that the dream sequence had been logical in anyway, Duo added to himself, nor his current behavior.

He stumbled slightly into the lounge, eyes still blinking sleepily. The entire house was in semi-darkness, despite the fact that it was already eleven. Duo switched on the television as he passed, the channel appearing the news channel, a typical find considering that Heero had been over the previous night. Duo wondered when Heero had left, since he seemed to have fallen asleep at some random, inconvenient time and left the task of hauling his sleeping form to bed to Heero. Stifling a yawn, he returned back to the lounge to collapse on the couch, another bowl of Heero's mother's infamous cooking resting in his lap.

The news reporter was reporting about the ten dead people again, which was unsurprising considering the enormity of the case. The officer in charge of the assignment appeared agitated as he warned locals (especially young girls) to be careful where they went and report the moment they saw anything suspicious. Duo made a face as the camera zoomed in on the highly graphic images of the dead people once again, wondering if this kind of report was really suitable for morning news. The phone rang suddenly, but Duo ignored it as he tended to do until the caller confirmed his intentions. It was a surefire way of getting rid of those pesky telemarketers, that and he was too damned lazy to rush over and pick up the phone unless it was somebody worth speaking to.

It was early after all.

The answering machine switched on, and Duo could hear the recording playing. The beep sounded, but there was no sound on the other end. Then there was a high-pitched, inhuman screech which surprised Duo into dropping his bowl. The click that followed signaled the end of the call, but Duo found himself still staring at his answering machine as if it was some kind of monster. What the hell was that? Cautiously, Duo strode over to the answering machine and checked to see if the caller ID had registered. Unfortunately, the space was blank. He was just about to delete the message when he heard Heero's voice, surprising him into jumping a good feet. Turning around, he fixed Heero with a evil glare while the Japanese boy stared, one eyebrow quirked.

'Jesus!' Duo cried, right hand pressed firmly to the area over his heart. 'You nearly gave me a heart attack.'

'It's a bit early in the morning for you to be jumping at everything isn't it Duo?' Heero asked, dropping his shoulder bag by the coffee table, catching sight of the spilled mess on the floor as he passed. He sent Duo a look, but Duo was not paying attention as he waved his arms around, bidding his friend come over. Heero walked over soon after, his face set in a question.

'I was just about to start on your mother's brilliant food.' He started, 'when some whacko calls me and leaves this weird ass message.'

'What do you mean by "weird ass message"?' Heero asked, staring at the answering machine. Duo pressed the play button, and there was silence for a moment before the high-pitched shriek rang throughout the house. The silence that followed it was deafening as Duo stared at Heero and Heero continued staring at the answering machine, a unreadable expression on his face.

'What do you reckon?' Duo asked after a while, breaking the silence.

'Sounds like some kind of creature.' Heero replied, face scrunched in a frown. 'But not any creature I know of. There is no caller ID?'

'Nope.' Duo shrugged. 'Perhaps it's some kind of childish prank. It is eleven on a Saturday, prime time for childish fun.'

'That's Friday and Saturday nights.' Heero corrected. 'This is strange…'

'Don't beat yourself up over it.' Duo sighed, already moving back to the lounge room to clean up his mess. Heero followed, although his face was thoughtful. Duo made a face as he stared at the mess on the carpet, this was going to take a lot of persuasion to get out. Heero walked off to the kitchen and returned with a rag and some cleaning agents, setting them on the coffee table as he bent down and helped Duo scoop up the now ruined meal and return it back to the bowl. Duo placed the bowl back on the coffee table when he was done, though he let his hand wander around on the table for a further moment to grab the bottle of Mr. Muscle Carpet Cleaner. Removing the cap, he squirted a liberal amount onto the carpet while Heero rubbed with the rag. Replacing the bottle on the table, Duo raced off to the kitchen to fill a squirt bottle with water, which he promptly dumped onto the carpet, where a nice amount of foam was forming. Heero continued rubbing gently, trying not to remove the carpet with the stain.

When the carpet finally fell into the "adequately-clean" for Heero (which meant that it was impossible to discern that there ever was a stain by the naked eye), the Japanese boy dumped off the cleaning supplies back in one of the kitchen cupboards, cleaned his hands several times (did Duo ever mention that this guy was paranoid) and returned with a second bowl of spaghetti. Duo accepted the food with childish approval, purposefully holding the fork in a primitive fashion while he ate. Heero increased the volume of the television by a bar while pulling his laptop out of his bag and starting it up. The news was now broadcasting the win of the German soccer team, and the riot that was currently breaking out in France for being defeated. Duo eyed the chaos in France with amusement while he wolfed down his breakfast, wondering if Howard would wander off to France just to watch the disorder unfold around him.

The phone rang twice before the answering machine came on. Duo placed his bowl down on the coffee table slowly, eyeing the machine warily over his shoulder. Heero's frantic typing stopped as well as he watched the answering machine, his eyes narrowed. Instead of some chaotic monster's screech however, Howard's voice came on, ranting about how he became the target of many pigeons' waste while visiting Trafalgar Square. Duo let out a sigh of relief as he marched over to pick up the phone while Heero resumed typing.

'Hi Howard.' He greeted tiredly. 'Europe treating you all right?'

'Duo, have you been listening to me at all?' Howard asked in exasperation. 'I just had one of my best suits destroyed thanks to a mass of birds who thought I looked like a mobile toilet.'

'Oh great fun.' Duo smirked. 'When will you be getting back?'

'That's actually why I'm calling you.' Howard's voice sounded apologetic. 'Things are getting a little chaotic over here, so I probably won't be back for about a month. Not that you care, but I thought you might like to know.'

'Another month eh?' Duo sighed. 'Yea sure, why not. Enjoy Europe and bring me back a souvenir.'

'Sure.' Howard's voice suddenly became serious. 'Take care of yourself, okay?'

'Don't I always?' Duo asked, although he had a feeling that was not what Howard was referring to. His uncle chuckled on the other end of the line, but repeated his message again before hanging up. Duo hung up also, but remained staring at the phone for ages, even after he had returned it back to the cradle.

'What's wrong?' Heero asked from the lounge, fingers never ceasing over his laptop keyboard. Duo walked back slowly, collapsing on the couch with a sigh.

'Howard was weird.' He answered, twiddling with hid thumbs for a moment. 'He told me to take care of myself.'

'What's unusual about that?' The Japanese boy beside him asked, although there was an audible retardation to his typing.

'Too serious.' Duo answered with a frown. 'Much too serious.'

'Perhaps you're thinking too much.' Heero shrugged, returning to typing at full speed.

'First time I've been accused of that.' Duo sighed, reaching over to grab his bowl of food. Heero snorted next to him, straight mouth twitching at the edges. Duo grinned, feeling a great sense of accomplishment.

Still smirking, Duo began shoving large amounts of spaghetti into his mouth, meanwhile his violet eyes were fixed on the television. The news had switched to a report on a couple of girls who had died at a rock concert. Apparently, they had been trampled to death by a mob of excited teenagers, and had not aroused any suspicion from the crowd of five thousand because of the loudness of the music, the ruckus everyone had been making, and the density of people. However, both of the girls had also been discovered to have a set of bite wounds on their neck, right over their jugular. Doctors were currently in speculation about the exact cause of death. Duo already knew.

'Vampires.' He breathed, brow furrowing with distaste. 'The Sacreds are going to have a field day at this rate.'

'There seems to be a lot of vampric activity these days.' Heero conceded. 'Is there no order over the Vampire race?'

'Yea.' Duo gave Heero a dull stare. 'Don't feed openly or you'll be killed, or so Howard told me. Not that he recommends I drink blood at or, nor do I want to. I think I mentioned that vampires have classes? Well, Howard said that the highest class of vampires acts sort of like sentinels, and they punish stray vampires as harshly as the Sacreds and all the other Hunters, which is why Sacreds aren't supposed to attack high class vampires (but they do it a lot anyway). Technically speaking, vampires aren't supposed to just randomly suck blood, and when they do, I think Howard said something about concealing the bodies so that nobody finds it. It's to not arouse suspicion, even though half the world knows of vampires anyway. I suppose it's just to keep those who don't believe in vampires happy.'

'Then why are these vampires feeding so openly?' Heero asked curiously, stopping his typing entirely. Duo shrugged, looking defeated.

'Maybe they want to die? I've heard that it is very easy for other vampires to pick up vampric scent from dead corpses, especially the stronger vampires. So if a vampire goes and openly sucks the blood of another human and then leaves them for the cops to find, then all it really takes is one high class vampire at the scene, get a whiff of the scent, and then the vampire that sucked the blood is pretty much dead. All vampires are supposed to have a unique scent…Heero, what are you doing?'

'Trying to find your unique scent.' The blue-eyed boy was currently leaning over with his face barely an inch from Duo's neck, all the while making sniffing noises. Duo wondered how Heero could keep such a straight face when saying something so ridiculous, only to have that thought fly out the window when he felt Heero's nose brush his neck. A bubble of laughter burst out of his mouth, and he could feel Heero grinning in his own non-smiling way. Then the Japanese boy pulled away, face straight and eyes fixed firmly on his computer. 'You smell like spaghetti. Is that unique?'

'You suck 'Ro.' Duo grinned, finishing off the rest of his spaghetti.

Duo suspected that Saturdays were supposed to be interesting, but not his Saturdays, especially not that one. From the morning till afternoon, he lay on the couch, watching the news channel. Heero was silent next to him, speaking at random intervals, but for the most part playing the robot Duo sometimes thought he resembled more than the human he was supposed to be. The braided boy wondered dully just what his best friend was working on, but it was Heero after all. Even when they were young and had no idea what a laptop was, Heero had been rather secretive about things. They would spend hours drawing, and yet Heero would never show Duo what he drew. Duo did manage to convince him into showing his creation once, and had been astounded by a pretty and accurate picture of a bay at sunset. He could not remember it fully anymore, and what he did remember seemed corrupted by the times. Surely even Heero could not produce a duplicate of a picture complete with the glossy sheen of the water? He had been seven after all! Duo shook his head, his mind was definitely beginning to die on him.

A glance at the television told him that someone else had been shot. Big surprise, he thought with a sigh, everybody was getting shot these days. Later on, there were reports of several men in the neighborhood dying from various causes, including a few who had their hearts impaled by silver arrows. Duo frowned, unconventional methods of killing such as arrows, especially silver arrows usually meant either a lunatic or a vampire hunter. Howard had assured him that despite how biased Sacreds tend to be, they would not attack him unless he proved to be a danger, and the hunters that did attack him were most likely members of other factions pretending to be Sacreds, or just overly biased Sacreds with an inability to be patient. Duo frowned at the thought, knowing that he would be attacked, only most likely not by the people he thought, was really comforting.

'Would you like to have dinner at my place?' Heero asked when the digital clock on the wall displayed the time as seven-thirty. Duo grinned and nodded eagerly.

'Some of your mother's brilliant dinners would be most appreciated!'

'Good.' Heero switched off his laptop and tucked it back into its bag. 'Let's go then.'

It was still raining hard outside, as if the heavens were trying to flood the earth in a repeat of the mythical storm several millennia ago which purged the world of all evil. Duo told Heero as much, but the Japanese boy simply snorted, claiming that the storm would not work with modern technology: all the rich people would survive with their private ships, and a good portion of them are not particularly "good". The only thing such a flood would purge the world of were poor, homeless people without shelters of their own.

Mrs. Yuy greeted them when they arrived with a warm hug and the promise of a good dinner. Duo smiled, thanking her as Heero nodded his acknowledgement and proceeded upstairs towards his room. Duo gave Heero's mother an apologetic look before sprinting up the stairs after her son, hearing Mrs. Yuy's merry laughter ringing through the halls even as he ran down the first floor landing.

'That's not a very affectionate way to greet your mother.' Duo scolded as he entered Heero's room. The blue-eyed boy simply grunted, removing his laptop and setting it neatly on his desk. Duo watched with a bored expression from Heero bed as his friend continued with his usual routine, putting all his items back into an order he was most familiar with. Now that Duo thought about it, Heero's organization had barely changed over the years. Even though they had only been reunited for such a short time, Duo still knew where Heero kept all his painting materials, all his blank papers and notepads. Knew which drawer held Heero's socks, and which held Heero's journal and music box. It was something Heero would never tell him about, but he kept a music box which appeared so ridiculously girly Duo had no words for it. Still, the braided boy knew there was a story behind the toy, knew that there must be a reason as to why Heero kept it, even though he doubted that the Japanese boy would ever share it with him. Heero kept many secrets, Duo thought with a sad smile, so many secrets he wished the blue-eyed boy would share with him but knew he probably never would.

Duo shook his head quickly, he was thinking about unnecessary things again. A glance at Heero told him that the other boy was busy searching in his top drawer for something. The top drawer held Heero's art supplies, although he had not seen the other boy paint ever since their reunion. As expected, Heero pulled out a set of watercolor pencils and a piece of blank paper. Duo tilted his head in question, unsure why his firend suddenly felt like drawing when dinner was almost served. Heero did not offer any answers, but simply pulled up a chair and began drawing. Curious, Duo crept over and peered over his friend's shoulder, seeing what looked like the beginning of a meadow. Heero waved him off after a moment in a fashion that Duo was all familiar with. It seemed that some things never changed.

Sighing, he collapsed backwards on Heero's bed, all the while ranting about the creative piece he was going to write for literature. Heero did not offer any signs of listening, but Duo knew he heard him. Heero was always listening, always watching, even when he did not look like it. Especially when he did not look like it, Duo added to himself as an after thought. Heero was a born spy, amongst other things.

'Here.' Duo's eyes fluttered open, blinking quickly in an attempt to get used to te light. He had not realized he had fallen asleep, although according to Heero, that was a highly common occurance. He smiled after a moment, his brain still in the process of waking from the clutches of sleep. Heero merely shook his head in a hopeless way before dropping a piece of paper on Duo's stomach, all the while declaring sternly that dinner was ready. Duo yawned, pushing himself up awkwardly as his friend exited the room, slipping down the hall and stairs so quietly, Duo would not have realized how far Heero had gone, if not for Mrs. Yuy's warm greeting when her son entered the dining room. Duo smiled slightly, only noticing then that Heero had dropped the picture he had been working on from before. Looking at the picture, Duo felt his jaw drop open and his eyes widen.

Heero had drawn a picture of the valley from his dreams, complete with the lake and the little pier. Even though the picture encompassed a large area, Duo could still make out a small figure sitting on the pier, his legs dangling in the water, waiting…

Confusion hit him immediately, engulfing the shock quickly. Why had Heero drawn this? How did he know to begin with? Duo had dreamed it, and in the dream, the person sitting on the pier was him. Was it possible that Heero had come across this idea somewhere else? Either way, he was definitely going to ask his friend about it, supposing that he talked. Gently, Duo folded the picture and tucked it into his poket, before rolling out of Heero's bed and scrambling down the stairs.

Dinner was oriental, comprising of rice, a bowl of fish soup and five different dishes. Mrs. Yuy smiled when he dashed into the kitchen, nodding her head in the direction of his usual seat. Mr. Yuy was in the middle of a debate with his son, and promptly invited Duo to join them. They were apparently discussing about the current political system, although it appeared rather one-sided, since Heero's eyes were fixed firmly on his food and his attention devoted to eating. However, Duo did catch Heero's eyes darting over to his father then Duo before going back to his bowl on numerous occasions, and he did make calm statements every few minutes which always ended up stumping Duo and Mr. Yuy completely. It was a talent of Heero's that Duo had seen on few other people which fitted perfectly amongst Heero's nature: efficient and effective, and if perfect one-sentenced rebuttals did not fit those two descriptions, then Duo did not know what else did.

When they finished dinner, Heero offered to walk Duo home. The braided boy agreed, knowing that the Japanese boy would not hear a word otherwise. Mrs. Yuy smiled and offered Duo some more food in bags for "snacks when he got hungry". Somehow, despite his large apetite, Duo did not think he could consume four kilograms worth of pastry as snacks over the duration of twenty four hours, for he knew that when he came around again tomorrow, Mrs. Yuy would have finished cooking another batch of something which would be unsuccessfully loaded off on her husband and son. Some times, Duo really wondered where Heero's mother found all the time to cook, considering her own busy schedule. Perhaps efficiency was not just Heero, but an entire Yuy family trait.

It was still raining when they walked outside, which was rather surprising judging by how much rain had fallen over the past twenty hours. The street drainage system had overflowed, leaving the roads completely flooded. Most of the pedestrian street was under water as well, as was the front steps of most houses. Duo sighed, still holding his black umbrella over his head but finding little point to it since he was ankle-deep in water. Heero frowned as he walked, obviously irritated that his shoes were going to take days to dry, as well as doubting the hygene of the water he was wading through. Duo reminded Heero that he did not really need an escort, but Heero's only response was an expressive grunt which conveyed that he did not really mind the rain, just that his feet were now swimming in disease, but it was okay since it was Duo he was walking with, and while he was on that thought, Duo was an idiot for even suggesting he should leave. Duo snorted to himself. Efficient? Very.

They had not walked more than two hundred meters before the streetlamps died, followed immediately by the sound of some car smashing into a pole in shock. The nearby houses suddenly went dark as well, leaving the area in a state of utter darkness, especially with the thick clouds overhead that obscured everything. It was in times like those that Duo was glad he was a vampire, for he could still see everything clearly, although he was not so certain about Heero. Instinctively, he reached over and grabbed Heero's wrist, ensuring that the other boy did not wander off.

'When was the last time this area suffered a blackout?' He asked jokingly, before taking slow steps towards his house. Heero followed suit with brilliant coordination, despite the fact that he could not see a thing.

'Around a decade ago.' Heero replied stiffly.

'How much can you see?' Duo asked, just to be certain.

'Nothing.' Was Heero's response, his voice conveying his irritation at his own weakness. 'You?'

'I can still see fine.' Duo answered quickly. 'So don't worry, I'll get us home.'

However, barely a moment later, Duo saw the signs of unmistakable trouble walking towards them.

Endnotes:

Ah cliffhanger! Wow, now you guys are really going to be angry with me if I don't update huh? Well, I'll try my hardest to get the next chapter done soon. Anyway, hope you enjoyed that chapter. I think I might have exaggerated Heero's mother's Feeding Complex, but it does happen! Anyway, please review! Assassin loves feedback.