1.9

"You lost Heero." He called looking at his younger brother from across the plain. "Give me Duo now."

Heero looked at his lover that cringed behind him. "He is not yours to claim." He warned.

"He is mine just as his skin bears my name. You promised me Duo!" he said.

"I do not belong to you Trowa, it is time you understand this." Duo answered.

"It is time you understood what they have done to you." he answered. Heero looked at his brother across from him. The boy he grew up with, the one he shared his dreams to. They had come so far. He never dreamed that they would be on opposite sides.

"Trowa I am king now. If you value your life run away."

***

Catherine leaned against the cold iron bars that was once the western gate of the three towers. She closed her eyes and saw inside the garden children playing.

"Shall we forever be separated beloved?" a voice she would know anywhere called.

She turned around and saw him on the other side of the gate, his blue eyes worn, his clothes blood-stained and dirty. He was so handsome in her eyes.

"It seems that way." She smiled. And he came towards her, opened the gate and caught her in his arms, his lips finding hers.

"I missed you Catherine." He said breathless.

"I love you Quatre." She said in tears. "Oh god I love you."

"How will we survive this?" he asked.

"I don't know."

***

"You must be mad brother." Trowa taunted. "For it seems I am the soul taker king now."

Milliardo joined them standing beside Trowa. "Surrender now king, you have lost."

Heero smiled. "Idiots."

Behind him flags waved and suddenly thousands of soldiers emerged.

"What? Then what have we been fighting?" Trowa panicked.

"That was our food supply." Heero laughed. "You body takers cannot even tell the difference between humans and kindred."

"But now you have nothing to sustain them." Trowa laughed.

"These men have not fed for almost five years. How will you escape that?" Heero said. Milliardo looked at the horror on his men's faces. Only a third of his army survived and now it seems they would be cattle for starving soul eaters.

And he laughed.

"You destroy humanity so that you may destroy our kind as well." He said turning to the enemy king. "You are heartless Heero." He smiled.

"Body takers take the heart for their prize, I will not be some body taker's supper." He said turning his horse around as the wave of his cannibalized kindred swept past him.

***

"Enough of this!" She called silencing the hunters and the hunted. A blinding light filtered through the vast plain and as it faded away nothing was left. Nothing.

They found themselves inside the garden. The ruling line of both clans.

"What?" Treize exclaimed standing up.

"What is the meaning of this Noin?" Heero said drawing his general aside. He stopped, her eyes burned violet.

"What is happening?" Duo asked quietly.

"It is time we ended this." Noin said her voice seemed not of her own. She moved towards Meiran who still clutched Wufei's lifeless body. "You are the last of your kind now. Nothing lives beyond those iron gates."

"What?"

"It is time we awakened." Noin said offering her hand to Meiran and looking at Duo.

Noin's body seemed to become more beautiful as the god inhabiting it readied itself to leave its mortal skin. Her eyes burned violet, her hair dyed to white and her skin was no longer human skin. Her clothes melted away and her feet elevated from the ground. She was The eldest star now.

Meiran said standing up and letting Wufei fall, she too began slowly melting away her mortality and become the deity she was, The second star had risen. Both of them looked at Duo.

"Why are you staring at him?" Heero asked angry, he did not understand what was happening but he would not let any harm fall on the boy hiding behind him.

"It is time we awakened. All of us." The eldest said still staring at Duo.

"I…" all of them looked at Duo, his hand still holding Heero's.

"I am the youngest of the three stars, creator of this world and everything in it."

He said his violet eyes burning furiously and his face blank, he let go of Heero's hand and began to walk toward the two generals.

"Duo no…"Heero pleaded taking his hand again. Duo looked back at him, frozen, his hair began swaying in the breeze and every flicker of hair began to turn to white.

"What is the meaning of this?" The second asked.

"Release him from your spell king." The eldest ordered.

"I…" Heero looked confused, the truth of his deception silenced him.

"Release him now." The eldest warned. "Or I will do it myself and you will regret it."

"I can't release him." Heero looked at his lover sadly. "It was not my spell."

The eldest placed her hand over Duo's eyes and he blinked three times. Then he pulled his hand free of Heero's and as he looked back at him anger welled up in those stoic violet eyes.

"How dare you!" was all the youngest said.

"What was your purpose in doing this creator?" Treize asked, his tired eyes not drifting to the bleeding young man with the silver breastplate and golden hair on the other side of the garden.

"I wanted to see for myself." The eldest answered.

"See what?"

A silence fell upon the party, the wind whispered something in their ears but the eight vampires that stood was deaf to it. The pain had numbed them from everything. Each heart wanted to scream, to demand why. But none made a sound only swayed in the cold wind, trying to find solace in its inhospitable embrace.

"So what happens now?" Dorothy asked after sometime.

"But I won! I fulfilled your fucking prophecy! How dare you take everything away from me!" Heero screamed the thought of losing Duo making him go insane.

"We gave you everything and we will take it away." The second answered.

"All of this was a game then." Trowa muttered quietly. His eyes shifted to the desperation in Heero's eyes and as his own set deep within his heart, he knew then that Duo belonged to the other who would never be complete without him.

"All we were was a lie." Heero said defeated. "All I ever cared about…" he whispered his eyes straying to Duo.

"I did what I did because I love you. And I would not suffer seeing you die." Heero said in despair. "You would have killed yourself Duo…"

"Were you a lie as well?" he laughed.

"You will pay for your deception." The youngest whispered.

"The era of the vampire clans are now over." The eldest proclaimed.

"I will take away your immortality and in your stead a new empire will arise." The eldest left Noin's body, leaving it as it turned to ashes and was blown away.

"This is now Adam." The eldest continued as the youngest lifted from Duo's body.

"And this is now Eve." It motioned to Meiran's as the second deity left her body.

And with that they were left on the western plane once more. The world was silent, the sun was dead and the iron gates would no longer open.

***

Catherine held Quatre's hand.

They had survived. They were together. And as she felt his arms close around him she knew all they had was now. There would be no tomorrow.

***

All he wanted was to see his children happy. To grow old with his wife. To perhaps spend another night in his lover's arms.

That was all he wanted.

***

Milliardo looked at Treize. The older man sat silent upon the field, his eyes lost. And the last body taker king turned around and disappeared into the forest. Never again setting eyes upon his only love.

***

Dorothy turned her face to the darkened sky. She was queen no longer. And she had lost, so many battles it seemed.

She laughed a river of blood and as her hands loosened from the dagger's hilt, she fell to the unwelcoming earth exhausted, used.

***

Relena dug his grave with her own hands. Trowa was the first to fall. He had hung himself when they found themselves again on the plain. He didn’t say anything; he didn't leave a letter.

When she watched him swaying in the harsh breeze she decided, it was the only time she had seen him content. He found in death what he couldn't in life. What it was he found was his secret. And he took it to his grave. This grave.

She wiped her hands on her soiled dress. And kissed the dirty soil as she bade farewell to him, the only one she had really loved.

***

Heero stared at the gates.

He was there, beyond the garden, beyond those trees, beyond that wall, beyond where he could ever reach him.

***

And with that their kind disappeared from the face of the earth. All except one.

1.8 crimson 2.0