Warnings: language, violence, religion-based magic

Chapter 8

::Interlude II::

Treize's POV ¹

"Okay. Other than being amazed at your vital signs, the doctor said everything looks good. You'll be able to leave here whenever you want. And don't worry about your files. I'll make them disappear. No one will be able to tell you're a vampire."

I smiled at the lovely young woman. "Thank you, Leia." The rosy blush on her cheeks was exquisite.

The door slowly opened but I hadn't heard the sound of the door knob being turned. Had we been having this conversation with the door partially open?

Milliardo, or should I say Zechs, strode into the room. "Is it true? Instructor Treize, is what the nurse said true!? Is that why you so rarely get hurt? Is that why you are so much better than everyone else? Is that why I can never beat you!?"

Leia turned to face him. She called a curt, "Cadet." Zechs' eyes shifted to her and then glazed over, but before she could complete her glamour I commanded, "Stop." Zechs' eyes returned their focus.

Leia turned to me. "I'll go take care of those files." She quietly left the room, shutting the door behind her.

I faced Zechs. "I have lived for just short of a millennia and a half. I was born in Europe during the late 1700s AD calendar."²

Zechs stared steadily back at me. "Make me one too."

I shook my head. "No. Human life should be given the utmost respect. You have such short lifespans, but because of that, you burn so brightly while you're alive. Humans are truly beautiful."

With a determined "I'll change your mind" he left the room.

Wufei's POV ³

I could hear Zunyan opening the front gate. There must be a visitor.

"These 'Sages' I've been told about, they really can tell you what you need to do?" An unknown voice filtered through the open door. Meilan gave an amused snort and whispered to me, "It sounds like we have a real genius this time."

"They can assist you in making an informed decision on your problem." Ah, always dependable Zunyan.

I could make out the sounds of only two sets of footsteps as they approached so we only had one visitor this time.

Zunyan entered the room with a man following closely behind. He gave off no sense of the immortal so it was merely a human this time. Curious. It wasn't often that humans were informed about my wife's and my existence. He appeared to be in his mid-40s and wore the purple robes of leadership. Must be the new head of the Long clan? Would explain why he was informed.

Zunyan gave a small bow in our direction before turning to the visitor. "Welcome to the Room of Guidance. May I introduce Masters Chang Wufei and Long Meilan." He turned to us and continued, "Master Long Zi-Ling has come seeking guidance." He gave another short bow and exited the room.

Meilan smiled at the visitor. "Greetings, Master Long. To what problem are you seeking guidance?"

Instead of answering, the visitor merely stood there gaping at us. I eventually grew impatient. "If you aren't here for guidance, then leave already."

That snapped him out of his daze. "This is a joke, right? Or some sort of test before I can see the Sages? I can't really be expected to ask children for guidance."

I growled, "Don't disrespect your elders," as my wife squared her shoulders and demanded, "You dare question Nataku?"

We must have shown some of our inhuman nature because the poor human's eyes went wide, laced with an edge of fear. I took a breath to calm myself and tried to find my center. In a more moderate voice I informed him, "We are the ones called the Sages. If you are here to seek guidance then please proceed and we will grant you all the assistance within our ability."

In a voice with a barely noticeable shake, he stated, "I am here on behalf of the Long clan and Colony L5-A0206. I am sure you have heard about the Earth's plans on forming the United Earth Sphere Alliance despite already hostile interactions between the Earth and colonies. I seek your guidance on what the future of the Long clan and Colony L5-A0206 should be. What path should we take? Is there any chance of avoiding war?"

Of course, a human would be here to ask about human affairs. I had no interest in the topic and thus allowed Meilan to handle the guidance. She always had an interest in humans including their governments while my interest in humans extended merely to their arts.

It was some time before Master Long gave a low bow and thanked Meilan for her guidance before leaving the room. I was about to reopen my book to continue my studies when I got thwapped on the back of the head. I straightened my glasses and turned to find Meilan glaring at me. "You could have paid more attention. I know you don't think much of humans but they'll surprise you. And this stuff is important!"

"Humans are too focused on their short little lives. There's nothing they could do that would ever be important." I got thwapped upside the head again. "Woman!"

She held her hand up, grinning. "You aiming for a third?" Her face turned serious again. "I know you haven't forgotten the previous World Wars, and the casualties they caused for both our kind. And the world has grown now. There are all the colonies to consider. If a war broke out among the humans it could be devastating. We need to do something. It's the just thing to do."

"You and your justice again." I reached out to cup her cheek. "You know I will never deny you anything, but on this I simply cannot agree. Force the humans to deal with their own messes. That is justice."

She turned her head just enough to kiss the palm of my hand. "You and I will simply have to remain in disagreement on this. I plan to do something to help prevent this war, and barring that, to end it before it gets out of hand." She gave me a cheeky grin. "You are more than welcome to admit you're wrong and help me at any point."

Zechs' POV ⁴

I pressed the trigger and saw the terrorist's mobile suit go down but there was no explosion. I decided to fly closer to make sure the enemy was neutralised. I found him in the middle of the road but… How did he get a hostage!? The terrorist was holding a gun to a young girl's head.

"D-Don't move! You move one inch… I'll kill the Darlian girl!"

Darlian? Could it be Relena?

"Now get outta that mobile suit!"

There was nothing I could do but comply. I couldn't fire on him with the Aries or I would risk hitting the hostage. And I couldn't risk that it was Relena. Damn it! She was suppose to stay safe! I unbuckled the harness and opened the hatch, stepping out onto the tarmac.

The terrorist started to eye my suit. The idiot doesn't know who he's dealing with. While he was distracted, I quickly drew my gun and shot his wrist, forcing him to drop his own gun. Relena jerked out of his grasp and ran to me. The terrorist simply continued to kneel on the ground in pain. I can't let her see how bloody my hands are. "I don't want to kill in front of this girl. Leave us." The coward ran, leaving me alone with my sister.

I turned to face her. She had grown so much since the last time I saw her. She has Mother's eyes… I gripped my gun harder. Close. Too close. I never should have let that terrorist get near her. I need to be faster. I need to be better.

If I no longer am bound by the limitations of humans, would I then be able to keep my baby sister safe?

Father Maxwell's POV ⁵

I placed the thin silver cross on the worktable in front of me. I grabbed one of the many pieces of chalk lying around and started to sketch the casting circle. "Mikhael! Grab some chalk and help with these runes!"

"Should just turn the pet out. Make him fend for himself. Dunno why we gotta do so much work for him."

Some days I wonder if it was a mistake to take him on as an apprentice. I turned to glare at my wayward student. "No matter what his circumstances, he is still a human child. Keep that in mind. And tell me, how do you break a Claim spell?"

He answered quickly, trying to impress. "The only way to break a Claim spell on a human is to kill the vampire who cast it."

I waited patiently. His face suddenly drained of all color. He gets it now. "We killed all the vampires in that lair and yet this Claim spell is still active. Vampires tend to be rather possessive of their Claimed humans. I do not want to lead an irate vampire to my orphanage. So, get over here and help with this spell."

He hurried over and grabbed his own piece of chalk, quickly starting to sketch in runes.

A few minutes later we both set aside our pieces of chalk. I gave a quick final check to the casting circle. Perfect. I placed my palms together and calmed my mind. "Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum." The circle began to glow. "Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ut hoc materno prosequitur benedicito crucem in protectione Dei filius." I crossed myself while speaking the last line of the spell. "In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen."⁶ The casting circle's light flared brilliant and blinding and then instantly winked out. I reached forward to pick up the small cross. "Now to give this to Duo."

Treize's POV ⁷

"Mobile doll production has been increased. And development of the new models is reaching it's final stages including the new scan devices. We should be able to start test flights soon."

"Good. Inform me when the Mercurius and Vayeate are ready for their test flights."

Chief Engineer Tubarov's image on the screen nodded then the connection was cut. Duke Dermail turned his attention towards myself. "It shouldn't be long before every country will be practically begging to be governed by OZ and thus the Romefeller Foundation."

"I would advise against a dependence on mobile dolls."

Dermail seemed surprised by my statement. "And why do you believe that, Treize?"

"By filling your armies with machines, you are removing the soul of wars. Humans are most beautiful when they are putting their short lives at risk but guarding them with all their might"

Duo's POV ⁸

There was a sudden lack of sound that every colony brat would be able to recognise right away and grew up on fear of. The vents were no longer pumping oxygen-rich air into our containment cell. Just fucking swell.

I knew it would be useless before I even tried, but I got up anyways to ram the door with my shoulder, trying to knock it open.

"Stay calm if you want to live a little bit longer."

Says the bajillion year old vamp who probably doesn't even need to breathe. "I don't know about you but I don't stand a chance unless something pretty drastic happens."

"Don't worry. I'll find some way to rescue you."

"No you won't! I'm not some fuckin' damsel in distress! I'll rescue my own damn self! ...Maybe." I flopped over onto the floor. "This is such a lame way to die! This is so not cool!"

- Later -

I was sweating and I could already feel my thoughts turning fuzzy. I tried distracting myself with Trowa's little gift. My new Deathscythe would kick some serious OZ ass. I clicked the button to cycle through the slides. My vision was starting to turn grey around the edges. Too bad I'm only a mere mortal. I glanced over to Wufei. It still sorta weirded me out to see him lying there not breathing. It just kinda hammered home that he was different from me. Wonder how else vamps are different? "Can vamps fuck?" Shit. I just asked that out loud didn't I? Stupid brain and it's stupid lack of oxygen.

He sat up and stared at me, one brow raised. "Let me get this straight. You're wasting your oxygen to ask me if vampires can have intercourse?"

I really hoped the whole, you know, lack of oxygen thing helped hide my blush. "Forget I said anything."

He smirked. "Yes. And we're really good at it too."

I gaped at him.

-x-

-Author's Note-

Sorry this isn't a real chapter. Hopefully it isn't too disappointing. Barring any attacks from rabid plot bunnies, next should be the second (final?) chapter of Engraved Revolvers and then a real chapter for Immortal.

Are there any other backstory bits or scenes from an alternate POV that readers want to see?

[1] Takes place sometime during this story's chapter 2, and in Gundam Wing's Episode Zero manga.

[2] In case you didn't bother to read the wall-o-text at the end of chapter 1 (I don't blame you :P), I defined 3000AD as when the Earth switched to the AC calendar.

[3] Takes place around 55-ish? years before Operation Meteor.

(I had trouble guessing Master Long's age since "old as fuck" isn't a valid number. So I decided to just give him a nice round number and say he was 100 when he decided to pull a Heero.)

[4] Sometime during chapter 2 and GW's Episode Zero. (And after Treize's little backstory.)

[5] Sometime during chapter 2 and GW's Episode Zero.

[6] Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee.

Holy Mary, mother of God, {bless this cross with a mother's love so that this child of God shall be protected.}

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

(The parts in { } are from Google translate and thus probably wrong. The rest is stolen from Latin prayers.)

[7] Takes place sometime during this story's chapter 7, and somewhere around episode 22 in Gundam Wing. (I have trouble hitting Treize's level of purple prose. -.-)

[8] Sometime during chapter 7 and GW episodes 24&25.