--------------- Kyuuketsuki Duo Episode 8 Bad Religion Chapter 2 --------------- Wufei was trying to act casual and inconspicuous at the same time. The meeting had gathered in the business district. One of the members of the cult was the owner of a warehouse there, and had volunteered his space for this recruitment meeting tonight. Wufei was uncomfortable being in such closed-in, unfamiliar surroundings. The lights in the mostly empty building were kept bright and warm where the gathering was, lending it an air of friendly openness, but the light did not extend to the farther corners of the warehouse. However, there was nothing else to do if he wanted the information he sought. A man approached him. He was a fairly average man, if a little overweight. His non-descript features were spread into an inviting smile as he introduced himself. "Hi, you're new, right? I'm Chris, the owner of this little establishment here." He paused, obviously waiting for a self-introduction. Wufei managed to temper his scowl into something a little less obvious. He had hoped that he could pass unnoticed in a gathering, that he might divine what information he could and leave without having to interact with eager cultists, yet it seemed that it was not to be so. This appeared to be an informal meeting for potential new recruits, granting personal interaction with the members. Wufei merely nodded, and avoided giving his name to the stranger. "This ... religion of yours." The man nodded happily, encouragingly. A brightness seemed to come to his eyes in expectation of helping another see the light. "What sets it apart from any other?" "Oh, yes, an interesting question, indeed." He pushed his thick glasses back up his nose as he licked his lips. Wufei waited patiently as the man regurgitated morality lessons that would lead one to righteous living, until he finally reached the part about the demon. He inquired further into it upon its mention. "Ah, yes, the demon." The man's voice dropped to a confidential level, as if he were about to impart a great secret to Wufei. "We do not speak its name. To do so would be to call its attention to you, and you certainly wouldn't want its attention, let me tell you. It can sense those who live in sin --" "And by sin," Wufei interrupted, "you refer to --?" "Sin," Chris breathed, the near capitalization of the word evident in his enunciation. "Sin is everywhere. Sin is not just the obvious of lying, cheating, stealing, adultery. Sin is a covetous nature. Sin is jealousy, desire to rise above one's allotted station in life. Sin --" Wufei, having gotten the general point, stopped him before he could get sidetracked from what he really wanted to hear. "And the demon senses these people and --?" Chris easily changed topics, more than happy to finish the teen's sentence. "It takes their souls. It robs them of their free will, under the guise of granting these people what they want most in their mortal lives. It twists people, warps their desires and their dreams and transports them to its own dark, twisted realm to live forever in a state of limbo, until all they can do is serve their dark master and receive cheap, false gratification." Wufei's own experience with the demons confirmed these symptoms of corruption. But each demon he had seen or met with had done but one of these small things. Was there indeed a demon that this cult was somehow aware of, that could do all these things combined? It would be a powerful demon indeed. "And it walks among men? Unnoticed?" The words of the demon that had, for a short time, taken residence in his head returned to him. It had insinuated quite blatantly that its kind was in circulation among humanity, and that they were perhaps much closer than he might ever have expected. "Yes. It wears human form. Sometimes its form changes, to suit its needs, but mostly, human." "Do you fight the demon directly?" he inquired. "Or only the methods in which it preys?" "Both," the man informed him reverently. "We are but followers of the Way, and what we do to combat it in what small way we can is to live righteous lives. If we were ever to encounter the demon face to face, then it would be our moral duty to chase it away. But we can not destroy it alone. Our leader, however. Perhaps he can. He actively campaigns against this demon. Tracks it and follows it as he can, and he hopes to eliminate its evil influence directly." "He must be a powerful man," Wufei murmured, trying to stimulate the man for more information. "Oh, Reverend Darcy is, he is a great, holy man," the man enthused religiously. "You are interested in joining his active battle against the demon? I can tell. You shine with great potential. You must meet him, our Reverend Darcy. He can tell you more." Wufei pursed his lips in thought. There was enough here to convince him that the matter should be looked into. Perhaps this Darcy was a demon hunter like himself. He would be arrogant, or deluded, to have started a cult of random civilians to combat the demon, but he may still have had a legitimate demon to hunt. "Where can I find this reverend of yours?" "Oh, you won't have to look far. He'll be here tonight." The man looked at his watch. "In fact, he should be showing up soon. The Reverend Darcy is a wonderful, caring man, not too high and mighty to mingle with us humble souls. He is truly a mighty warrior in the battle against the evil which threatens mankind." The man went on for a few more minutes extolling the virtues of the fantastic Reverend Darcy as Wufei listened with half an ear, waiting for the religious leader's appearance. When he did arrive, Wufei was not disappointed. The gleam in the reverend's eyes was sharp and signaled a keen intelligence, not foolish insanity as he had half feared it might. The man's followers flocked around him when he arrived, not quite fawning at his feet, but still, falling all over themselves to show their respect to the man, and share with him their achievements in both living outside of sin, and in bringing others into the fold. At last, the peons fell away, and the warehouse owner led his leader to Wufei. Reverend Darcy was a tall, thin man, whose solemn, weathered face showed little emotion. He was dressed modestly enough, in simple blue jeans and a dark blue button-down shirt, but he seemed to have a charisma, a power about him that drew the eye. The businessman murmured something brief as a short introduction, and then took himself discreetly away, leaving the two of them alone. "I am Reverend Darcy, at your service." His was a low, gravelly voice. "And you are?" Wufei hesitated at first, but decided that he would have to compromise a little if he wanted to dig any further into this matter. Besides, the man looked as if he might be legit. "Wufei," he responded shortly. "Wufei," the man repeated slowly, as if he were tasting the feel of the name on his tongue. "Chris tells me that you have shown some interest in that which shall remain unnamed." Wufei nodded once. "Is there anything further you wish to know of it?" "This demon of yours...." He paused before continuing, considering his words carefully as he struggled to ask politely whether it was a demon or merely a product of a religiously crazed mind. "Does it walk alone? Or are there many of its kind among us?" Darcy's ice blue eyes caught his, and for a moment he felt judged, tested, scanned, violated, but the moment passed quickly. Darcy nodded sagely at whatever information he had divined from the single look. "You are familiar with the demon realm, aren't you?" "I have had some experience with it," he acknowledged cautiously. Darcy's penetrating eyes studied him for a few moments longer. "Yes. There are many that walk among humanity, feeding and preying at will. This one is, admittedly, but one of many, but it is strong, and this area seems to be its primary hunting grounds, at least for now." He glanced casually at the members of his cult, making sure that none of them were too close before he continued quietly. "I confess the matter is perhaps not as religious as the propaganda may make it out to be, but couching it in such terms makes it easier for people such as these to understand the gravity of the situation. So long as they are converted to a righteous life, a life where the demon shall have no foothold from which to attack, then I shall have done my duty." Wufei inconspicuously eyed the gathering himself, somewhat reassured by the candidness with which the man spoke. Maybe they were oblivious as to the true nature of the situation, but they were at least safe from the demon's advances. "Your duty?" The 'reverend' nodded solemnly. "My duty. I have taken it upon myself to rid the world of at least this one foul demon who would lead these people to corruption. I may not succeed in eliminating it, for it is powerful and dangerous, but so long as I try, and defy its influence, then I shall emerge victorious." Wufei nodded gravely in agreement of the sentiment. "I see that you are also a man who wishes to see this world rid of such evil, no?" Wufei began to speak, but the man cut him off and he subsided. "Don't be modest. I can tell." "Yes," he admitted slowly. "I also wish to drive such evil from this world." "Then you are welcome to join me on this hunt," Darcy invited. With a small smile, he added, "Brother." Wufei's eyebrow rose in response to the appellation, but otherwise he let the presumption pass. "Do you know anything concrete about this demon?" "I know not its lair, if that is what you wish to know. And it has no particular haunts about this region, but hunts everywhere. It takes victims across all ranges, young and old, rich and poor, male and female." "So you know nothing," Wufei commented wryly. "That is not all. Encounters with the demon indicate that a sighting may be accompanied by a light ringing of bells, and that it has a servant that often accompanies it. The servant is a dark figure, shrouded in shadows. And although the demon takes several forms, it has one it prefers. That of a teenage boy. He is recognizable by the peculiar color of his eyes." Wufei had been distracted by mention of the shadow-shrouded servant. Could that have been the creature he had encountered in the park that night, the one that had warned him to stay out of its affairs? But at the mention of the boy with strangely colored eyes, he snapped back to attention, a shiver of foreboding running down his spine. "... What color are they?" he asked, fearing he already knew the answer. "Violet. He has violet eyes." Wufei's own eyes widened in disbelief as he stood, speechless. "Here." The man fumbled around his pockets and extracted a piece of paper, folded into quarters, and handed it to Wufei. "This is a picture of him." Wufei hesitantly took the sheet, while the man looked on, his eyes curiously aglow with some sort of fervor. Wufei stared at the paper in his hands for a few moments before carefully unfolding it. It nearly fell from his fingers as he caught sight of the image within. He knew this demon. Its name was Duo Maxwell. _________________________________________ This piece of fiction is the intellectual property of the little turnip that could. The basis for this fic, i.e. Gundam Wing, Kyuuketsuki Miyu, et al., is the property of someone else. The author can be con- tacted at jchew@myrealbox.com. This has been an entirely automated message. http://www.cs.hmc.edu/~jchew/misc/gw.html last modified : 7/3/2001 14:55:08 PST