Cannibals

By DragonMage

Notes: Okie-day, this is the second part, first chapter to the fic! I hope I do okay...*bites lip nervously* I don't usually write adventure/action, so this is kinda new for me.

"It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees."

--Dolores

Chapter 1

2 Years Later...

"Meia! Get ready for school!" Wufei shouted from his spot in the small kitchen of the apartment he and Mariemeia were currently living in. Their old home had been burned down two years ago and that part of the city was yet to be rebuilt. Everyone who lived around there had to move to another part of the city or move to another city completely and start all over again. Wufei had decided to just move to another part of the city since Mariemeia was more familiar with the place. That and he had more important things to do than run away.

"Papa, where are my shoes?" a frustrated nine-year-old Mariemeia demanded from her bedroom.

"Check in your closet, Meia," Wufei told her. He smiled as he heard some rummaging going on before a shout of triumph.

"Found them!"

"I know."

Suddenly Mariemeia appeared, jumping on one foot as she tried to slid a shoe on the other. "Papa, there's a parent/child banquet later tonight around seven o'clock. You're coming, right?"

Wufei nodded. "Of course. I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Although everyone is going to think it's funny my daddy is only twenty-two," Mariemeia giggled.

"Yes, well, I'm a young father. Now you, brat, go get your backpack and eat your breakfast," Wufei said, pointing his spatula at her.

Mariemeia laughed and disappeared to do what she was told.

Wufei chuckled and shook his head. He had to agree with Mariemeia though. It would be strange for him to be there. If anyone ever took the time to check his age with Mariemeia's they would be surprised. After all, can a thirteen-year-old actually have a child at such an age? *And* raise her on his own? Not very likely.

"Papa, what do you do for a living?"

Wufei turned around to find Mariemeia already sitting at the table, eating her breakfast. "What?"

"What do you do for a living? Our teacher asked us that today and I couldn't answer because, really, I don't know," Mariemeia said, shaking her head.

Wufei smiled and turned off the stove. "I'm an artist, remember?"

"Then how come I haven't seen you paint before?"

"Because I haven't gotten any inspiration. I wait until I get it before I can start painting."

"It must have been a long time since I can't remember ever seeing you paint." Mariemeia frowned. "Are you lying to me, Papa?"

Wufei sighed. "Mariemeia..."

"Yes, I know." Mariemeia's sigh was almost exactly like Wufei's. "There are something's that I just don't need to know because if I did, it would be dangerous for me." She looked up at Wufei with deep blue eyes that were so much like Treize's. "Papa, why is it dangerous? What do you do?"

"Nothing, Mariemeia," Wufei answered, shaking his head. "Now eat your breakfast. Sally is coming by with her friend Noin and their going to drop you off at school."

Mariemeia nodded. "Ms. Noin's nice. I like her."

"Yes, I like her too," Wufei said, nodding.

"She and Sally are good friends, aren't they?"

"Yes, they are, Mariemeia. In fact, they met when and became friends right away when we all moved here."

"That's nice." Mariemeia began to play with her food, expression thoughtful. "Why Papa?"

"Why what, Meia?" Wufei asked as he sat down to eat breakfast. He was used to Mariemeia's constant questions. The girl was curious about everything. And he meant *everything*. She wanted to know what was this and what was that--and she had to have her answer and nothing else.

"Why did we move? I remember at our old house we were happy. What happened, Papa?" Mariemeia asked quietly.

Wufei felt his insides tighten at the memory of their last home and Mariemeia's lack of memory. The shock of the attack by the Cannibals had caused the young girl to wipe her memory clean of the event to protect herself. Sally had told him that children did that sometimes, as a protective reflex to keep the 'bad things' away. She said it was probably good Mariemeia forgot because it kept trauma and all that other stuff away. Wufei was more than happy to agree. He had actually been relieved to find Mariemeia forgot about the attack completely. He didn't know what he would be able to do for a traumatized girl.

"I just thought we would do better here," Wufei lied as he sipped his coffee. He told Mariemeia this every time the little girl asked. It was the only thing he could tell her since it was only a half-lie. He did think it was better if they moved here than to go to another city. It would be too hard to explain moving to another city entirely to Mariemeia. To just move to another side was easier.

Mariemeia nodded, accepting the explanation once again. Wufei wondered how long it would be before his daughter started demanding real answers to her questions. Probably when she was older and understood more--hopefully anyway. One day he would tell Mariemeia the truth about everything but not now. She was still so young, too young.

A loud knock on the door brought Wufei out of his thoughts. He stood up and moved through the apart to the front door, looking out of the window before opening the door.

"Hello, Sally, Noin. On time as usual. And a lifesaver," Wufei said as he stepped aside for the women.

Sally walked in, dressed in a white shirt and black pants with her doctor's bag in hand. "Meia asking questions again?"

"You know she always does," Wufei answered almost wearily.

Lucrezia Noin smiled sympathetically. "Hey, it's okay, Wufei. One day you can tell her everything and she'll understand why things are the way they are."

"Thank you. She's in the kitchen right now. I'm going to go and get ready while you keep her busy," Wufei told them as he walked to his room. He slipped inside and closed the door behind him. Then he started getting ready for work.

Outside in the kitchen, Sally and Noin we keeping Mariemeia busy with some stories from work.

"Wow, Ms. Noin, did you really do that?" Mariemeia asked in amazement as the blue-haired woman recounted the time they had to take down a Cannibal terrorizing the locals.

"Sure did," Noin said proudly. "I shot it straight in the heart and took it down. Then the hospital came in and took the body away. It was a mean sucker, but it wasn't that tough."

Sally rolled her eyes at Noin's 'tough girl' talk and tried not to laugh aloud. Sometimes Noin was just impossible. Both of them were on the Corps, an organization devoted to wiping out the Cannibals that still lurked in the sewers. Ever since the attack two years ago, everyone was paranoid and it was only too simple to get a grant and start the Corps up. And ever since they were getting more and more recruits. Everyone wanted to get rid of the Cannibals. Every day children were still being stolen away from the hospital to be raised as a Cannibal. Recently, women were starting to give birth in their own home--but even that didn't ensure absolutely protection for the children. There were still break-ins and babies were lost almost every time.

Looking down at her watch, Sally found that it was time to go. "Come on, Noin. Time to take Mariemeia to school."

Mariemeia nodded, quickly finished her breakfast and grabbed her backpack. All three ladies walked towards the front door of the apartment, but not before calling out their good-byes to Wufei.

"Will you be all right?" Sally asked, just a bit of nervousness working into her voice.

"I'll be fine!" came the firm response. "Don't worry."

"Bye, Papa!" Mariemeia called out.

"Bye, love."

Then the front door slammed shut and the ladies were taking the elevator downstairs.

Wufei stepped out of the bedroom when he was sure they were all gone and smoothed down his white suit. His shoulder length hair was combed back with gel, giving it a sleek look, tucked behind his ears. In his right hand was a suitcase and in the other were his sunglasses. He couldn't help but smile as he slid the glasses on. He loved his job sometimes.

"It's time to go to work."

~*~

"Are you sure these are state of the art?" Wufei asked as he checked over the weapons lay out in front of him. They were in the private upstairs room of a restaurant establishment half way across the city, discussing negotiations for the weapons and bombs the Chinese man wanted to buy.

"Of course they are, Mr. Chang," Song Li-Chen said earnestly. "I wouldn't see you anything less."

Wufei smiled in amusement. "You better not. You know what I do and I need the best."

Li-Chen nodded. "Naturally. Just because the Corps was made doesn't mean everyone's safe. It's nice to help out a local hero."

"They don't think I'm hero, Li-Chen. I doubt they even know of my existence," Wufei said, shaking his head. He ran his fingers over the daggers and smiled. "These are very nice. What about the bombs?"

Li-Chen held up a small, plastic square between his thumb and forefinger. "Press the little red button in the middle and you get a great fireworks show."

"Amazing how technology advances these days," Wufei murmured appreciatively as he checked out the bomb.

"So, how is the Cannibal slaughter business?" Li-Chen asked cheerfully.

Wufei smiled and looked at the men around him and Li-Chen. They were all familiar with Wufei's line of work, what he did while posing as an artist. After all, they were the first people he came to when he needed weapons. It was nice to have friends with connections.

"I'm doing okay. I'm still not close enough to wiping them all off the face of the Earth, but I'm getting there," the slender Chinese man said in a smooth, confident voice. "Besides, I just got a contact that can tell me the location of another lair."

"Now that, men, is what I call work," Li-Chen said with a good amount of satisfaction. The men around them nodded and smiled. "I would join you in the business, Chang, but I just can't seem to get enough gut to risk my neck like that. I don't know what you're doing pitting yourself against them."

"They're something that needs to be gone. I'm just the person who can do it. The Corps has to follow Government rules so there's not a lot they can do but hunt down the occasional Cannibal that appears. I, on the other hand, don't answer to the Government and I can do anything I want."

"As long as you don't get caught that is."

"Exactly." Wufei zipped the duffel bag full of weapons after checking thing over again and making sure he had everything need and the exact count of it. He then pushed the briefcase over to Li-Chen who popped it open and checked over the bills before nodded and snapping it closed again. "I've got everything I need. It was wonderful doing business with you, Li-Chen." He then headed for the door with his new purchases.

"Always, Chang. Be careful out there. I'd hate to have my favorite customer KOed on me."

Wufei turned at the door and smirked. "I'm always careful." Then he was gone, out the door.

~*~

"Any new reports?" Sally asked as she walked into the office she shared with her lover.

"Yeah, always," Noin said, throwing a folder onto her desk. Sally sat down on the edge of the desk, picked it up and began to read it while the blue-haired woman mulled over what she had just read before Sally came in. There had been another kidnapping, six children. Two of them from the local hospital, the other four right from their homes. All of the mothers were hysterical and had to be sedated while a search was sent out.

"Again?" Sally sighed as she finished the report. "Damn it!"

"You know it happens every day, Sal."

"It doesn't make it any better."

"Hey, we're doing the best we can," Noin said encouragingly. She reached out and patted Sally's hand from across the table. "It'll be okay. I mean...maybe we'll get lucky..."

"Noin, you know damn well that only one out of six ever get recovered," Sally said, shaking her head as she dropped the report on the table and closed her eyes. "I hate this. I mean...all those mothers. I feel so bad for them."

"I know, I know. And we can't do anything about it. We can tell them to stop having children but what will that do to them? What will that do to the human race?" Noin asked.

"But they end up getting stolen anyway!"

"Not all...just some."

"I hate this. I hate this. I hate this. We aren't getting anything done!"

"We are..."

"No," Sally said, shaking her head, "Wufei is. He's the one actually going to the lairs and taking out these monsters, making sure there aren't more of them than there is. The Government won't allow it since it's a high level risk for anyone involved. The only thing we can do is take down any Cannibals that show themselves."

"The Government is a bunch of asses. If we didn't have to answer to them, I can bet your salary that everyone would be down there in the sewers bombing the shit out of those fucked up monsters," Noin said, her voice tight with anger.

"Of course."

"But we can't. And we can't go hunting Cannibals like Wufei because we don't have his strength or speed to match a Cannibal in a fight. You know he's...not human."

"I know. Damn it," Sally cursed.

"I know. It sucks. But hey, we're doing our best."

Suddenly the alarms went off, signaling a siting of Cannibals.

"Fuck! In broad daylight?!" Noin shouted furiously as she leaped to her feet.

"Calm down, Noin. Grab your gun and let's move," Sally said, gesturing to the weapons hanging on the wall behind her lover's desk. The blonde pulled out her own gun from the straps around her thighs and got off the table. Then they were both out of the room, running down the hall along with other Corps members as they prepared to duke it out with some Cannibals.

~*~

Rrriiiing! Rrriiiing! Rrriiing!

"Everyone duck underneath your desks!" the teacher shouted as the alarms went off, announcing the fact that there were Cannibals and they weren't very far from the elementary school. Immediately metal bars slammed from the windows, protecting the children from within. The metal door slammed shut and locked automatically. All of the children ducked underneath their desks and prayed that the Cannibals wouldn't attack them and that the Corps would take them out soon.

"Don't worry, Leslie," Mariemeia was telling her friend soothingly. The other girl was shaking like a leaf as she clung to Mariemeia for comfort. "Don't worry. My Papa's friends are part of the Corps and they won't let us get hurt, I promise you."

"Really?" Leslie asked in a small voice.

"Really. Their names are Sally Po and Lucrezia Noin. They're really nice people."

"Are they the people who take you to school every day?"

"Yep."

"They're really nice."

"Yeah, see? It'll be okay. They won't let us get hurt." Just as Mariemeia finished that sentence a Cannibal suddenly appeared at the window, smashing the glass and trying to bend the bars to get in. It snarled and growled at them, saliva dripping from its teeth as he tried to get the children closes to the window. Those children immediately ran for it, the instinct to run kicking in, thankfully.

Leslie--and everyone else in the classroom save Mariemeia--screamed and cried; some even fainted. The teacher was grabbing any random object and throwing it at the Cannibal, anything to keep it away from the children.

Mariemeia grabbed for her backpack, trying to get Leslie to loosen up her hold around her waist. "Leslie! Leslie let me go! I have to get something."

"No! Nonono! You promised not to leave me, Meia!" Leslie sobbed as she clung to the bolder girl.

Mariemeia shoved her reddish blond hair out of her face and grabbed hold of Leslie's shoulders, trying to shake some sense into her. "I have something that will make the Cannibal go away! Come on, Leslie, let me go."

"You can make it go away?" Leslie cried.

"Yes! My Papa gave it to me! Now let me go so I can throw it at the Cannibal," Mariemeia said insistently.

Slowly, Leslie let go.

Mariemeia smiled at her friend. "That's brave of you, Leslie." Then she grabbed her backpack and shoved her hand inside. She pulled it back out with a small red ball in her hand. Suddenly, her papa's words echoed in her mind, 'If you're ever in trouble with a Cannibal, throw this right into its face. It'll hurt the Cannibal very badly and it'll go away.'

Gathering up all the courage a nine-year-old can muster, Mariemeia crawled out from under the desk and started making her way over to the Cannibal at the window. She could see the bars were already bending at the force of the Cannibal's strength and she would have to hurry up to stop it. She was almost there when the bars snapped. The entire classroom started screaming and running for the doors.

Mariemeia threw ball.

Smack!

The ball slammed right into the Cannibal's face and shattered. Then it was screaming like there was no tomorrow as the reddish powder that had come out when the ball broke stuck to its face. It shrieked, the voice hitting decibels that caused everyone to clap their hands over their ears. Then the Cannibal was gone, running away in pain as its terrible screams echoed around them.

<Thank you, Papa,> Mariemeia thought, thankful her father had given her the ball to protect herself. She turned and crawled back over to Leslie who was sobbing loudly, along with the rest of the class. Shakily, Mariemeia reached out and wrapped her arms around Leslie's small frame.

"I-It's okay, L-Leslie. Everything is okay now," the girl whispered to her friend as gunshots sounded, notifying the arrival of the Corps outside.

~*~

"Mariemeia!"

Mariemeia's head snapped up at the sound of her father's voice. "Papa!" She leaped to her feet and right into the arms of her father. "Papa!" She buried her face in her father's neck and held on, letting the strain drain away as she knew she didn't have to be mature or brave anymore. Papa was here and Papa was going to make everything okay again.

She had been sitting in the hallways for a while, waiting as the school got in contact with her father so he could come and pick her up. All of the other children had been picked up already. Leslie had been one of the first. Now there was only her and a few others sitting in the hallway, waiting.

"Papa, I'm so glad you came!" Mariemeia whispered gratefully.

"I'm so sorry I was late, Meia. I just had some business and...Well, Papa's here now. We're going to go home and eat some ice cream, okay?" Wufei said, trying to sound cheerful even as his heart pounded at a hundred miles per hour. He had been talking to his contact about another Cannibal lair when his beeper went off. The minute he saw the school's number he knew something had happened. He had quickly finished the meeting before getting a taxi to the school. He had been too far from his neighborhood to hear the alarms go off around the immediate area so he had no idea there had been an attack.

"Yes, please! You know I love ice cream, Papa," Mariemeia said, smiling brightly.

"Mr. Chang?"

Wufei turned around with Mariemeia tight in his arms to face a tall, beautiful young woman.

"Hello, my name is Mona Gellar. I'm Mariemeia's teacher. I have to say, Mr. Chang, that you're daughter is one of the most bravest child I have ever had the pleasure to meet," Ms. Gellar said, smiling warmly at Mariemeia.

"Really?" Wufei turned to Mariemeia. "Did you do something, Meia?"

"I used the ball," Mariemeia murmured in Wufei's ear, refusing to meet her teacher's eyes.

Wufei nodded. "Of course. Good girl, you listened to what I said."

"She saved our lives, really. Although, I have no idea how," Ms. Gellar said in amazement.

"She said she threw something at it. It probably irritated the Cannibal somewhat," Wufei said, shrugging. "Now, if you don't mind, Ms. Gellar, I must be going. Mariemeia is exhausted and I wish to take her home."

Ms. Gellar nodded. "Of course. What was I thinking." She smiled at Mariemeia. "Good bye, Mariemeia. I'll see you when school opens again."

"Good bye, Ms. Gellar," Mariemeia returned politely before she returned to burying herself against Wufei.

Wufei smiled and nodded before walking past the teacher and out the door. He walked down the steps and half way down the street before finally lowering Mariemeia to the ground. The girl refused to release Wufei's hand though, and they walked home like that, father and daughter hold hands.

~*~

"We only got a handful of children."

"I know."

"What *is* Mother going to say? She's going to be upset..."

"I know. But she'll understand."

"Mm-hmm. Hey, did you see that girl and her father? That same girl threw that red stuff at one of our own's face."

"Hn."

"They're dangerous. I think we should tell Mother."

"I think we shall."

"Wonderful! Now let's go. All this sunlight is starting to irritate me."

"Hmph. Weak."

"Ha!"

No one saw as two shadows flitted from their hiding place behind a tree and into a near-by manhole.

~*~

"And here's the ice cream!" Wufei announced triumphantly as he walked into Mariemeia's softly decorated room with a tray of the promised ice cream. "Chocolate chip with extra sprinkles and whipped cream, just the way you like it."

Mariemeia laughed and held out her hands for the cold treat from her seat on the bed. She had fallen asleep the minute they got home and had only woken up half an hour before, demanding her ice cream. Something Wufei happily delivered.

"Yum!" Mariemeia greedily dug in, scooping large scoops into her mouth, loving the taste of the cold sweet cream melting against her cheeks and tongue. "This is good! Better than last times."

"Yeah. Remind me never to buy that brand again," Wufei, said, tapping Mariemeia's nose with his spoon. "It looks like that parent/student banquet is cancelled for tonight and school opens in four days. What do you want to do until then?"

"Anything as long as I'm with you, Papa," Mariemeia declared as she licked at her spoon.

"Hmm...That's hard. What about we go to the park tomorrow and have a picnic?" Wufei suggested, smiling. "And we'll invite Sally and Noin too. I bet they'll want to come! Well, as long as we can take them away from their work."

Mariemeia nodded happily. "Yep! That would be wonderful!"

"Would you like to invite any friends?"

"Aw, Papa, you know I can't. Their parents would never let them go outside, not after that attack. You're only taking me 'cause you know how to protect us."

"That's true. Ah, well, let's see if there's anyone else we can invite..."

Mariemeia shook her head. "I can't think of anyone else."

"Me either. So, it'll just be the four of us," Wufei said, smiling as he swallowed some more ice cream.

"And I like it that way. It'll be just like any other family, huh, Papa?"

"Almost," Wufei agreed. He grabbed the cherry of his ice cream and offered it to Mariemeia. "Are you sure you don't want a cherry?"

Mariemeia wrinkled her nose. "No thank you!"

Wufei chuckled and popped the cherry into his mouth, delighted to find it pit-less. Nowadays, it was hard to find anything good in the market place. He had been lucky to find, and rich enough to afford, the ice cream and cherries. Things like these were now luxuries only to the rich. The poor could not afford a bit of it, sadly. Everything was in such an economic despair, Wufei was surprised it hadn't all just collapsed years ago.

The only reason why he had so much money was because before his family died, he had came from a very, very rich line. After everyone was gone, he was the only one left. The entire Chang fortune was left to him, as well as all the businesses his parents owned. He still kept a few businesses but most of them he sold off for a very hefty price. He just didn't have the time to take care of the businesses with Mariemeia and Cannibals on his hands.

"I don't know how you can like cherries, Papa, I hate them!" Mariemeia shook her head and shoved more ice cream in her mouth, chewing away at the wonderful treat.

"Everyone has different taste buds, Meia. I like cherries but I hate peppermint."

"I love peppermint!"

"See?"

"I do." Mariemeia giggled. She looked down at her bowl for a moment before looking up at Wufei, her bright blue eyes shining. "I love you, Papa Wufei."

Wufei felt his heart warm at those words. "I love you too, Mariemeia."

"Now, are you going to feed me more ice cream? I ran out!"

Wufei laughed. "Brat!"

~*~

Madame Une tapped her long nails along the steel armrests of her throne. She was dressed in elaborate black and purple robes that reflected her status as the ruler of the Cannibals, her long deep brown hair done up in buns with red and black ribbons. She had on her glasses, which reflected the firelight burning not so far from where she sat. Kneeling before her were her sons. Not her blood sons, she would never have another man touch her in such a way. No, they were her adopted sons. Both trained to be the best, to take over when she passed away. She was powerful but it didn't mean she was immortal. One day both of them would have to fight for the throne above the Cannibals and only then would she find out who was stronger and who was not.

"The raid at the school wasn't very successful, was it? Those damn Corps showed up and ruined everything." She narrowed her eyes in thought. "It's been a bit difficult since they appeared. And even more so since that damn man has been burning down my lairs!" She looked down at her sons. "How? How does he find the lairs?"

"I have no idea, Mother. He just seems to. We've been trying to track him but it's hard," the violet-eyed one replied.

"I want you to find him!" Une shouted angrily. "I want him dead! He's a pest and he needs to be gotten rid of! We're strong again; we're almost there! Soon, soon, we'll have the surface and the world will fall to their knees. But first, we have to get rid of the Corps and we have to get rid of this damnable man."

"We have found one lead, Mother."

Une raised an eyebrow. "You have?"

The Prussian blue eyed one nodded. "Yes, we have. There was a child at the raid who used some sort of powder to burn off the face of one of our kind. We saw her walk home with a Chinese man today. We believe that is her father--and where else would she have gotten the stuff?"

Une wanted to laugh. "Perfect. Track him down and kill him." She suddenly looked bored with them. "Go. Get rid of them. I have something's to do."

Both of her sons nodded and disappeared into the shadows.

<Dead. Once the Corps and that man is dead, I can finally fulfill my dream--my destiny.>

~*~

"Are we going to track down this man?"

"No, of course not. We're going to lure him out and join him."

"Excuse me?"

"Come on, it'll be fun! Just listen to my little plan..."

"Why do I suddenly have this bad feeling...?"

"Oh shut up!"

~*~

Wufei leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to Mariemeia's smooth forehead. "Good night, Meia."

"Good night, Papa Wufei."

Smiling, Wufei straightened and walked out of the room, making sure to close the door behind him. He walked over to the security system off to one side of the apartment and dialed in the number. Then he went to bed.

~*Owari Chapter 1*~

And it's done! *grin* Well, it didn't take my very long to get this chapter out. I only spent a few hours instead of a few days on it. *grin* Tell me what you think of it so far!