Vampire Princess Miyu Fan Fiction ❯ Conquest ❯ Chapter 6 ( Chapter 6 )

Conquest

Chapter 6

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An icy wind blew harshly against Miyu as she found herself wandering barefoot towards the sea. Storm clouds shrouded the late night sky from view and bathed the land in a sea of darkness. The vampire princess had no clue why she'd come here in the first place. Perhaps for comfort. Perhaps for hope.

Miyu shivered as frothy waves rushed past her feet. That was another thing. If she was truly immortal again as Osa had said, then why did wind carry daggers and the sea bear claws of frigid chill that made her very bones ache?

So much had happened lately, the Guardian's head was still spinning. She felt trapped in a perpetual nightmare of everlasting pain, sorrow, guilt, and grief. Almost forgotten was the feelings of joy, happiness, warmth, and love. Long lost was any amount of fulfillment in her life. She found herself wondering why she even cared anymore with all she'd ever cared for taken away from her. After all, what was life without one's family, friends, and, most of all, soul mate?

Miyu blinked. Mist now surrounded her as it rolled in off the ocean. How long had she been standing here? She hadn't the faintest idea. All since of time had left her the moment she'd set foot upon this shore. It seemed to her, it had been just like this all the many years ago when she'd first laid eyes on Larva as he strode proudly out of the sea to ask her if he could borrow some of her life.

Recalling that night, Miyu found herself once again gazing out into that foggy storm-tossed ocean. Then strangely, in the blink of an eye, she found herself totally there once more. Her body was that of a 13 year old school girl, freshly out from class. Her hair was a bite shorter and styled as she'd done way back then.

'But how can this be?' Miyu thought to herself. A split second later, her ears perceived a voice floating in towards her. A soft masculine voice, that seemed far more than vaguely familiar.

"There is nothing to be afraid off," he said smoothly and calmly. There was only one Miyu knew of with a voice like that one. And only one that had spoken words to her like that. Could it be? Could it be her dear Larva? If this was a recreation of the past, then it must be him.

Miyu let out her breath only to hold it again, fearful of doing anything to ruin the event. Then, to her profound joy, there he was, gliding with confident grace out of the water. His ruby eyes regarded her and her alone.

"Nothing at all to be afraid of… my precious Miyu," he spoke again.

'Wait a minute,' Miyu thought quickly. 'That wasn't how it went. She had every single word, every breath, every movement, every scent burned into memory. That last bit was, by no doubt, an ad-lib!

"Who are you?" Miyu asked boldly. She watched as his mouth moved, yet now she couldn't hear a word he was saying. It was as if the memory was now playing on mute. Then, to her shock, she heard his voice within her mind as she had for all the times when he could not speak to her out right.

"You know very well who I am, Miyu. Please, do not tell me you have forgotten me so soon. I know that not to be the truth as I know you better than anyone else ever has. Perhaps even better than even you know yourself," Larva said. As he spoke, Miyu found the scene fading to black save for the man before her. Now, it was she as she was now and Larva standing facing each other in a dark abyss.

Miyu did not answer but let out her held breath and gulped. Her brows furrowed as she now tried to discern what was real and what was the fault of her own imagination. Her heart thumped heavily within her chest as she felt Larva raise his pale palm to gently cup her chin, raising it till her golden eyes met his scarlet ones.

"Please don't fret. This is neither the time nor place as it has cost me far too much energy to weave this connection, and we don't have a lot of time. Your blood should be able to easily tell the difference between me and a vision in a dream. Remember?" Larva gently advised her. Miyu blinked. She hadn't thought of that.

"Y-yes. It does. But how? How are you here? Larva, I'm so scared! I don't know what to do anymore. I've had everything I have taken from me. I haven't the strength to fight like this! Much less Osa," Miyu cried as she tried to fling herself to him. To her great comfort, she felt her body press to his and his arms move to embrace her shuddering form.

"Miyu… Do not worry of how I arranged this. Focus on healing yourself and building your strength for the war to come. No, it won't be easy. In fact, things will most likely get worse before they get better. That's how it goes in any monumental storm. But, Miyu, despite what you may think, I know you have it in you to fight this and win! You are not only vampire, you are the Guardian. You are the shinma's best! Not even Osa will have the ability to stand up to you once you've grown to meet your full potential!" Larva told her as he allowed himself to hug her tightly. Nor could he deny himself a secret sniff of her sweet smelling dark chocolate tresses.

"But Larva…" Miyu started to protest to his words.

"No buts, Miyu. You have to try! Please promise me you'll try," he pleaded. He then blinked as her memories flowed through his own mind via their link by blood, mind, and spirit. "Lemures found you, did he not? He offered his help to you, did he not? Much of what he knows, I taught him. And vise versa. Miyu, listen to him. Let him help you. Let him teach you. Let him train you in my place. And know that when he does, it won't just be him that's helping you. It's him and I together as the brothers of heart that we are. Do you understand?" Larva stared her straight into her golden eyes as he spoke this. Miyu bit her lip and looked down as she pondered. After a minute, she then nodded.

"Yes. I understand. It doesn't mean I'm any less scared, though," she told him.

"Oh, my dearest Miyu," Larva sighed and hugged her tight once again. "You are a fool to think you are the only one. Over the many years we've journeyed together, you've taught me to feel emotions as you do. Don't you know I'm just as frightened and pained as you?" he said in quaking voice as he bowed his head over her shoulder.

"Larva!" Miyu gasped in shock.

"But Miyu, that's how I know we can win this. That's the advantage we have over Osa. Especially you, who have once been human and have a true grasp on emotion. Within you lives all those feelings of life that Shinma living in darkness are denied. You can love, you can hate, you can fear, and you can encourage. Love, loyalty, courage, honor, trust, endurance… and hope.. all of these things Osa lacks where as you do not. Hang on to your feelings and don't let them go. Use your anger as a weapon of justice and righteousness to overcome the odds and defeat this enemy who has so disobeyed the rules that even he himself had proclaimed all Shinma must follow!"

"I… I hadn't thought of it like that," Miyu admitted.

"You are the Guardian. It was your mother who gave you the power to overcome this. Remember when she told you that you have a choice. This is what she meant.

"You have a choice to give up and give in. To fall by the wayside and let Osa walk all over you. And you have the choice to stand up to him. To face him and tell him how it is. Only you can make that choice, Miyu. No one else, not even I, can make that choice for you."

"Larva…"

"Miyu… As I stand here and look at you now, I am overwhelmed with pride. Over the years, since the day you took me in from the sea, I have watched over you and guided you as you walked your fated path. Now, here you are before me, and I see not the same girl I met on that beach. You have grown and blossomed. You have grown from an innocent school girl to a wise and beautiful young woman. You have grown from a reckless less-than-amateur to a powerful and cunning warrior."

"Larva!" Miyu gasped as she felt heat rising to her cheeks in a flattered blush.

"I mean… My god, Miyu! Had I realized the truth of how much power you have, I swear, even then, I would have pissed in my pants!" the Western Shinma said outright.

"Oh boy. You said Lemures and you are like brothers. I'm now beginning to notice what you mean," Miyu said smugly. Larva blinked at her and promptly started laughing.

"Yes, I do suppose that would be something that you would more expect to come out of his mouth," Larva laughed warmly. Miyu found herself unable to resist the lure of his contagious mood and joined in laughing along with him.

Gods, it felt good to laugh. Even just that little bit. They say laughter is the best medicine. But Larva and Miyu had to agree.

"I must go. But before I do, Miyu, I want you to make a promise to me. I want you to promise me that no matter what happens, you'll do your best to take care of yourself. And that you will fight this with all your might till you either win or die trying!"

"Larva…"

"Promise me! Please, just promise me," he pleaded to her with all desperation in his voice, face and eyes. His eyes, she could see now the tears that had welled up within them. The sight broke her heart. In that, she suddenly felt the strongest urge to strive and succeed than she ever had in her life.

"I promise! Larva, I promise I won't give up! I'll fight this! I'll fight it and I'll win! For you and for the world that depends on it!"

"That's a good girl," Larva said in both her mind and her ears. Miyu found herself once again in that memory. This time, she didn't dare break it, but followed it through to the point of biting him in exchange for the blood he took. Just as she did the first time, she did now.

"Larva, stay with me. Please stay with me forever."

"Miyu… I will. Forever," came his response. Yet in her mind she heard one more thing. "Miyu, remember. Always remember - I love you."

Miyu couldn't resist the surge of tears that rushed to her eyes upon hearing his words. Like those he had spoken to her that first day, these he'd said to her now, she would burn to memory for all eternity. It was then, just as she did, that she suddenly heard his scream.

Miyu's eyes snapped to attention to see electrical energy crackling all around her beloved servant, "Larva!"

"I'll be all right! Go! Return to safety!" he yelled within her mind as he slammed his mask over his face and drew back all of his power to reserve.

Though, he was helpless to resist crying out in pain from the nasty medicine Osa threw at him upon discovering what he was up to, Larva still knew he secretly had the upper hand. No matter how much Osa hurt him, Larva's energy, blood bond, and lifeline were now all sealed away behind that mask. As Larva, himself had applied it, there was no way Osa would get it off without Larva or Miyu. Then there was Miyu. He had succeeded in doing his job in showing her the truth inside her and how to approach the coming battle.

Though, this time, he could not be there to fight by her side, he knew that some part of his spirit would be - through Lemures, and through Miyu herself. The fight ahead of them was still a huge gamble, but Larva rested with comfort and hope in the knowledge that Miyu now had what she needed to ultimately win.

'How ironic,' he thought to himself. How ironic indeed. He'd come to this land in seek of conquest. It had been his goal to become the ruler of the Japanese shinma. He'd come face to face with the Guardian herself with the intent of killing her before she realized the power she'd been given. Not only had he failed to kill her, he'd actually been the one to awaken her latent vampire blood.

Now, as he looked back over it all, he realized in hindsight that it was meant to be that way. In truth, he had not failed at all. He had merely merged himself with the one being in existence with the power to defeat the Osa. All that had happened in the past was merely wise extended preparation for the true battle for conquest. That battle, he'd though he'd lost had actually never even begun. Until now!

Miyu shrieked in horror as she watched Larva get ripped away from her by Osa's omnipotent hand. She felt her stomach churn along with the waves of the sea. It was then, already too late, that she noticed, those waves had been suddenly turned against her.

Miyu's golden gaze stared up at the wall of water surging towards her. She knew instantly there was no out running it. Larva's words played back through her head.

'Focus on healing yourself and building your strength for the war to come.'

'Okay,' Miyu thought. 'This, I do for you, Larva! Please hang on!' Resigned, Miyu swiftly ducked down into a fetal position on the ground with her hands over her head as she drained all her strength to the reserve pool. A split second later, the wall of icy water came crashing down upon her with supernatural strength. Putting up absolutely no defense, Miyu let the darkness brought on by the cold, for the time being, consume her. For a while, she would sleep. Then, when she awoke, her life and purpose would become a totally different ball game.

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Pen's notes: Yay! Finally, my writing muse has returned to help me dish out a new chapter to Conquest. And quite a good one at that. Not even I had a clue where the story was going while I was writing this. I had started it out thinking that Miyu would be having this horrible traumatizing nightmare where a dream version poor Larva gets killed er something. But no. As it turned out, yall got the Larva cameo yall were looking for. And in a totally awesome way! We even got a little blurb that told yall exactly what I meant in the title and what the ultimate goal is. I'm shocked! O.o!

Gee, talk about teaching me to complain about the Union of Penguine's Muses forcing me to give them some time off over the holidays! I finally complied, and look what happened! Bleh, that foot tasted awful! *faints*

*Get's whapped over the head with her own keyboard by Lemures.* OWWIES!!

Okay! Okay! I'm awake now! Sheesh!

Anywho…. On to replies to reviewers! ^_^

Rageful_Jewel: I love the OAVs! Don't get me wrong, the TV series, and what little I've read of the manga are cool, but the art and the depth of writing in the 4 episode OAV just took the cake.

Queen_of_Blades: I think the ones you're talking about are from the TV series. The OAV versions I got are fan-subbed I believe. Search the net. There's bound to be a place that has them.

LaDemon: Thankies. ^_^ I do whenever my writing muse lets me. Take long expanses of inactiveness up with her. *points to the wise-ass muse*

Steahl: At this point in the story, Reiha would have already been defeated. And the ante's been upped in this level of the game. Miyu and company have much BIGGER problems ahead of them. Heh-heh. Soon the shit'll hit the fan and it'll be all or nothing. *Pen suddenly hears Kenny Rogers sing'n in her head.*

Drow_goddess: Heehee. You finally got yer wish! ^_^ Well.. sorta.

Rogue77: People say it both ways. It really doesn't matter which. They both work.

If ya really get confused about some of the stuff I've written based on OAV scenes, email me and I'll see what I can do to untangle yer knot. ^_^

HAHA! You ain't the only one go'n crazy! This happens to be one of my favorite stories out of all of the fan fiction I've written. And the way I write, sometimes I know just as much about what's going to happen around the curve of the road as you do. I think, for me, that's the whole fun behind writing. Because even the writer becomes a member of the audience wondering what's going to happen next. It's an adventure! ^_^

Chibi Parker: *giggles* Here, you go! One new chapter! And a good deep long one at that! *cheers*

Lisa: No, I didn't forget you. ^_^ I thank you very much for yacking with me through email. I enjoy it immensely and look forward to chitchat'n more. ^_^ ,V,,

Whew! That's a lot of reviewers! I thank each and every one of you for taking time to share yer thoughts. I very much appreciate it. I will try my best to update as much as possible despite my current webcomic project and starting back to school here this term. I may even draw a picture or two to go with the story if at some point a scene inspires me enough to do so. If I do, of course, I'll let you know where to find it/them when they're done. ^_^

That's all for now. Take care and Happy New Year everybody!

Oh, and in case I don't update by Jan 12.. *passes out cake to everyone* here's some virtual b-day cake! I'll be 23 on that day. Heh.. yeah.. I know. I don't act it a bit. But who cares, ne? ^__________^