Disclaimers: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!. I'd be rich if I did. :) Oh, and no Hellsing, either. And no Metropolis. ):
Moar moar moar writing, wut? Seto's probably gonna kill someone, he's so bloodthirsty (That didn't sound right. : | )
Bloodshed, anyone?
:3
Also, there might be more Franz and Rotwang in this chapter, and maybe a mention of Erich (Franz's Luv-). :D yursh.
Now if I can only get my puppy to stop trying type with her mouth. D:
Chapter Four: Overture- The Art of Blood Letting
Morning. Damned morning. It came to quickly. Jou breathed in as many lung-fulls of air as he could in a short time, his eyes not wanting to open. They felt gummy, and gross. He turned on his back, stretching and arching his chest up, groaning. He rolled out of bed, landing with a dull 'whump' on the floor, still curled up. Sun peaked through the little gaps in the curtains, landing on Jou's bare arms. It felt warm… too warm… there was a slight smell of something burning… burning… meat? There wasn't any meat or anything… His arm cringed, the skin fluctuating and contracting. He cracked open his eyes and quickly squeezed them shut. Boiling flesh on his arm… he didn't want deal with it right now. Boiling flesh… Oh, god! He jerked up, yelling as some of the sun hit his eyes, hurrying to scramble into the shadows. The arm still cringed, the flesh still moved. Trying to knit itself together around the cauterized flesh and failing, failing, failing. There was a slight red streak across his eyes, healing quickly.
He got up, walking along to the closet at the far end of the room, sliding the panel-door aside and carefully shrugging on a pair of jeans. He grabbed a shirt, shrugging it on, making sure it hid the burn; still trying in vain to knit itself together. Stumbling back into the hallway, he waked up to the living spaces. Nobody was there. He walked around a bit, before going to the refrigerator. Opening it, he saw multiple packages of blood. There was a rumbling deep in his stomach. He grabbed one of them, catching a flash of a letter, O- something, and quickly ripped it open and drank it. He felt stronger after that, he felt full. Physically, anyway. Mentally he felt… slow. Ever-tired. But replenished, at least. He didn't know what made him do it, but he wrenched open the door and stepped outside. The sun shone straight down on him from it's midday position. He reveled in the warmth as it hit his skin, smiling to it. It didn't burn him this time.
He wan't totally sure of where to go from here- there were tall buildings all around him. The left, maybe. And now a right… and another left… left, left, left, right. Taking random turns. He thought he heard people over there… follow the noise, follow the noise, like some weird version of follow-the-leader. He thought he heard it here… then there… and over there… there was a glint of light to his left. He followed it. The light got bigger and bigger, swallowing him, and spitting him back out on the streets. There was so many things! Street vendors, people, cafes, restaurants, shops! He had never had the chance to see Domino like this before- to explore it! He felt like… what were they?… Pioneers! Like the pioneers; he remembered that data downloaded into his brain- they were explorers! Looking around to decide where to go next, a building caught his eye- tall, reflective. Unlike any building he had seen before. It was like the city decided to reach a hand into the sky- to make something so magnificent, something to outstrip all the other buildings around it. It would stop growing on the ground, it would instead colonize the sky. Sure, that one over there looked nice, but it remained tethered to the earth, unmoving, squatting on the ground. He looked up at the top of it- KC was hung in large letters at the top of the tower. KC… It was vaguely familiar. He made up his mind. He would go there. It wasn't that far away, anyways. Only a few blocks. He started to run.
Unfortunately, he almost ran right into a heavily-trafficked road, almost getting ran over. An angry driver honked his car horn at him, startling him into jumping back on the curve. He heard the driver mutter "Nut job" to himself as he drove away. Jou looked around again. There, at the corner, where all the people were standing, watching the road and waiting. As the hanging lights changes from green to red, the started to walk across. Jou quickly ran to join them,making a beeline for the other sidewalk. There was the building, to his right. And the turnoff, to his left, as the street bent back towards it. He followed the tarmac snake until he came to an intersection. More people waiting, more lights changing, and more crossing. Towards the tower again! He was almost there… one more turn, it looked like. To the right. He now saw that, in front of the building, there were two statues- both of a type of mythical creature… a dragon, he thought it was, framing the way to the entrance, guarding it. He stepped cautiously between them, heading up the pathway, jumping over the steps to the revolving glass door in the front. Inside, it was cool. The room was a semi-circle, all glass, with wood veneer at the back wall. In front of it, a granite reception desk (Also semi-circular) sat between two elevator doors. The room had a smattering of comfortable looking chairs and tables, and a few well-placed pieces of greenery. Jou looked back to the desk again. Barricaded behind it was a young woman, her black hair pulled up in a ponytail, speaking into a headset. Jou walked up to the desk, patiently waiting for her to finish her conversation with the little communication device. She was young, oh so young, and what she was wearing… a low-cut shirt, exposing her neck, her neck! her neck!, and blood, fresh, good, young blood; ever so delicious… no bitter tastes…, blood pulsing calmly beneath it.
"…sir? Can I help you, sir?" The blonde was pulled out of his brain by her voice. Cold and tinkling, like glass wind-chimes.
"Um… yes… " He started, and then paused for a moment… what to ask? "Can you tell me who and where the owner of this tower is, ma'am?"
"Mt. Kaiba. He's in his office, sir. Are you a business associate?"
"Um… Well, I represent one, yes…" Blood, so much blood… blood… He was salivating at the thought.
"Which business, sir?"
"Excuse me?"
"Which business do you represent, sir, so I can announce you?"
"Uhm… it's a science company, you know… we're interested in a collaboration with Mr. Kaiba."
"Yes sir, just hold on one moment," She went to press a button on her headset, pausing a moment before asking, "What company do you represent, sir, and do you have an appointment?"
Crud… ah, well, he had come this far, why quit now.
"Um… Paladin Labs. We- we didn't think to make an appointment… sorry…" He gave his best sheepish grin, trying not to reveal the two sharp points of teeth he now had.
"Just as well, sir," She pressed a button on her headset, muttering about stupid business associates an no appointments and just waltzing in like they owned the places! Before she could get much farther, a crackle of static and a sharp bout of microphone feedback spiked out of the headset, making the lady jump.
"What!"
"There's a representative from a Paladin Labs to see you, sir. Should I send him up?"
"Did… did he make an appointment?"
"No, sir, he said they didn't think to."
"Fffhhhh…. Fine. Very well. Send him up."
"Yessir."
She pointed to the elevator to the right. "You can go on up, sir. He'll be in his office on the 15th floor."
So red, so warm and succulent… "Thank you."
Jou quickly made his way to the elevator, gripping the burn spot on his arm. There was a sharp fragment of pain, bringing him back to earth. Maybe the would would start to fester… He certainly hoped not.
Pressing the button for the 15th floor, he sat back and waited, hummed along with the elevator music. There was something odd about what the lady had said… A K… something starting with a K… Kiba….? No… Kinji? That wasn't it either… He rubbed his forehead, cursing the blood-lust fog. Kai…? Almost… Kai, Kai something… Kai-
The elevator dinged right then, and he stepped out into a floor that was the biggest office he had ever seen.
And behind the desk, nails digging into wood, teeth grinding, reeking of anger and sort temperedness, and looking, for all the world, like the scariest man alive, was Seto Kaiba.
Kaiba. He had known it started with "Kai."
[KaibaCorp Tower- Earlier that morning]
The day had not started off well. He hardly got any sleep (It was odd, and very difficult, conforming to human hours. Sleep all night, up all day…), he went through hell looking for that little vial of medicine, or potion, or whatever the hell it really was, and, beyond all that, he was thirsty. God, was he thirsty. He needed blood. It was starting to get so bad to where he could feel every muscle, every particle of his being want for it and thirst for it and lust after it as he passed people in the streets. His mouth ran dry and parched, and at the same time he nearly salivated every time the world presented him with company in the human form.
When he had arrived at his office, he stomped quickly to the elevator, up to his office, and then proceeded to try and find something… something, that would allow him to get through the day. He couldn't snap n the middle of the afternoon and drink and employee dry… he had to wait until tonight. So he stayed locked up in his office, determined to stay alone. Then the secretary paged him.
"There's a representative from Paladin Labs to see you, sir. Should I send him up?"
"Did… did he make an appointment?"
"No, sir, he said they didn't think to."
"Fffhhhh… Fine. Very well. Send him up."
"Yessir."
Needless to say, the last person he expected to see was the blond transfer student from ho class. When he stepped out of the elevator, looking at him with slightly glazed over eyes and his head tilted to the side… Kaiba dug his nails into the wood of his desk to strengthen his resolve. Not here. Not now.
"Jonouchi?" He glared at him, trying to steady himself. The blonde was a member of the Paladin Organization? "You're a member of Paladin?"
He watched with more interest than he intended as the blonde started, his semi-long hair brush just over to the top of his jugular vein… And then a nervous laugh rent the air.
"N-not really… I kinda made that up to get in here. I can't believe the lady downstair bought it, huh? Real luck, y'know?" Jonouchi's mouth barely moved. He was hiding something… in his mouth…
"I didn't even know it was real…" Jonouchi continued, looking around the large office space, twisting his head this way and that to take in everything, craning his neck to see some things and twisting it for others… Kaiba watched with increasingly unrepressed interest as tendons and veins were outlined, defined, and then melted back down together.
"Get. out," He hissed.
"Wh- um, okay…"
"Now."
His head spun a bit with delirium. There's the blood! Pulsing and warm and fresh… so fresh, so fresh! Fresh blood! Real blood! Needed blood… needed. Needed blood. Go after it, go after the sweet, fresh nourishing blood!
By the time Kaiba had banished the bit of vertigo, Jonouchi had already backed out of the office.
He sat down and buried his face in his hands. It was going to be a long, excruciating day. Dammit.
[Domino City Streets]
Jou walked back outside, trying to think of what had just gone on. Not the he didn't get it or is it or process it or anything, but… just what was his purpose in going there. He felt a slight twinge in his chest when he thought of Kaiba up in that tower. He looked freaking' certifiable, to.
He looked up as he made his way from the tower, noticing that… he was lost. Great.
Looking around, he decided to take a turn down an alley that looked to be in the right direction. Down the rabbit hole, then. He walked throughout the veritable maze, his brain still tied up with his thoughts. Kaiba and lost and the blood and here and where am I? He heard a distend laugh, smelled acrid cigarette smoke down that way. It stung his nose and burned his eyes. At least it meant there was someone down there. He followed the sound and the smell, coughing more and more as he got closer.
He finally got to the source. Three people, sitting around, smoking, drinking, laughing, not much older than him. He walked up to them, meaning to say 'Hello' or 'Sorry to bother you,' but one of the three turned his attention to him before he would.
"Wat'cha want, kid? Watcha' doing down here?"
"I got lost, and-"
"Y'hear that, boys. Said he's lost." They all laughed.
"I was wondering if you could give me some directions."
They stared at him a moment, the apparent leader taking a long drag on his cigarette, blowing the smoke back into his face. He coughed and waved it away.
"You'se look like you're family has some money…"
"That wasn't what I was asking-"
"Boys, I think we have ourselves a way to some money." He smiled and checked back over his shoulder.
They all hooted and laughed in unison at this.
Jou looked down as he felt a slight pressure at his stomach- a knife.
"Look, all I want is directions-"
"I'll give ya' directions. Just come wit' us."
"Directions out of here-"
"You do what just said and I'll get ya out of here."
Jou's head started to spin. He stumbles a bit, dizzy.
"Watsa matter, ya' scared?"
His stomach felt empty…
"Hey, C'mon kid. You're coming with us."
The thug grabbed him by the arm, hauling him up and sticking the knife back in front of his stomach.
"Lemme go…" He spoke quietly, almost without conviction. He didn't hear what they were saying anymore, his brain was too fogged. Blood here… not so fresh. But blood. Take it! Seize it! Carpe Diem! You are thirsty, drink!
He looked over, breathing heavily. He could see the thug, laughing at him, still puffing away on his cigarette… The smoke looked red… It was red. It was all red. He licked his lips, pulling them back into a smile.
There wasn't much of anything then. He heard the body fall to the ground with a thud (The cigarette was over there, now, still clouding his vision), he felt the blood well up and burst into his mouth from the thug's throat. The body still writhes underneath it as it bled out. The other two… they were running away… Catch them then!
Grabbing the knife, he threw it. It struck one in the back. He was on the body in an instant. The back… the back is no good… spine, brainstem, fluid… yuck! Ech! He flipped the man over, unconsciously driving the knife through his spinal cord, severing it. The throat was ripped open. Before him the soft flesh lay open, ready and willing to satiate him. He dug his teeth into it, draining every bit of blood he could. He quickly looked for the third one… gone, long gone now, and to much of a bother to follow.
He stood up, going back through the alleyways. He could find the place eventually. He had to, or his _ _ _ _ _ _ would kill him. His body shuddered at the thought. That was incentive enough.
[-_-_-_-]
The space was dark, and it was damp. It wasn't the kind of place you would think to find a king or queen. The scientist approached a tall, throne-like looking stone seat, in whack a figure sat, resting it's head against it's hand. A weak diner-style light lit the figure from above, throwing the features into darkness.
He bowed his head as he approached. The figure didn't move. It was only when he was just outside the circle the light cast that the figure spoke.
"News? How is our newest experiment coming?"
"Very well, so far."
"Is he what we expected?"
"That and more! The new chip, the bi-cabon sulfate chip, it's doing wonderful! He's just what we want him to be! Except…"
The figure moved a bit, tilting it's head menacingly towards him.
"Except?" The word was chilling.
"Well… it seems we have some memory regression; Sadi tells me that whenever she goes to install an update or check on things, there's always a… file, I guess is how it could be described, that's locked. A part of his brain separate from what it's mean to be, that's inaccessible. Even to him."
"Can it be eliminated?"
"We don't know; we're going to conduct more research to find out-"
"Good."
There was a silence.
"Are there any other anomalies?"
"Well…"
"Good God, man! Spit it out! If I didn't want to know I wouldn't ask! Get yourself a spine!"
"There's a presence… A person. We converted the neuro-kinetic signals into an image."
"And?"
"Seto Kaiba. The CEO-"
"Of KaibaCorp. Yes, I am aware. So… our little experiment is thinking of Kaiba, is he? That… interesting. Aren't they classmates?"
"Well, yes, but this amount of emotion behind it; the thoughts themselves…they're different than that."
The figure chuckled a bit. Overhead, the light flickered and the dark space shook a bit. A subway train was running overhead.
"It sounds like our little experiment has a crush. Seto… Seto Kaiba…"
"Our records show that he's been around longer than… well, most CEO's."
"I am well aware. He's one of them, one of the vampires…"
The scientist was silent as the figure thought. This was his leader. Silent, obscured. Such a discovery to be made! He served her without question.
"Monitor him," She sad, making him jump slightly. "Follow him, watch him. Get a man in there. I want to know how old he is, what he's done, where he's from, what his family is like, his business associates… Get me everything."
"That will be incredibly difficult. He's one of the premiere business leaders of the time. We can't just send a man in- we might as well be trying to spy on the D.O.D-"
The figure tensed.
"Bertrand, I don't care if he's G.O.D, you get me everything you possibly god damn can-" The figure froze. "If you can't send someone, find someone willing to work for us. Pay them off. Offer them three times their yearly salary."
"There's his two private scientists. I can get people to make an offer to them."
The figure shook with laughter, before quieting down and turning it's shadowed head to look at him.
"Rotwang and Franz? Bertrand, are you up to par here? Rotwang wont; take money for espionage, he's strictly a scientist. Franz has the strictest moral code I've ever seen, after the fall of the Reich… Erich."
"Wat?"
"Erich! The SS-Totenkopfverbände officer! We have him, correct?"
"Yes, but he's in cold storage-"
"Then get him out. We won't go for money, we'll go for something far more venerable. Franz… we'll get him to give us all the information."
"But didn't you just say-"
"For a world-class scientist you certainly are an idiot, Bertrand. We'll manipulate Franz through his emotions. He hasn't been able to forget Erich since Nuremburg. He doesn't know we have the body, we can do anything-"
"But won't he be suspicious?"
"Yes, that is to be expected," The figure paused "But… Give a man one amazing night, remind him what he has lost, then offer him the food and the drink. He'll most certainly take it. Franz may be one of the smartest men on earth, but he's as emotionally venerable as everyone else. We destroy him mentally and emotionally, make him work for us, and we get what we need. Now go get that corpse."
Bertrand bowed low before the figure.
"Yes, ma'am."
He backed into the shadows.
[End Ch. 4]
Whoo~~! Ch. 4 es el DONE! :3
More mysterious crap. And I told you there would be a mention of Erich. :D
A small explanation for the starting section of the chapter- Y'all remember the mad science kick, right? Well,The blood in the refrigerator is mixed with an enzyme (Not to far from the blue stuff Kaiba uses) that builds up a resistance to sunlight. So, while the part of Jou's arm was burnt when he woke up, the reason he didn't totally disintegrate was the enzyme. And the blood helps strengthen- your immune system! : )