Intermezzo
By SMYGO4EVA

The pure sapphire water glistened in the light that shone inside as the vampire twins gazed into the reflecting mass of liquid in the underground reservoir, where it would be for all time. The sapphire lake was ever flowing and cool to the flesh, pure through and through, unlike the destructive acid water that the skies had cried out, in rage or in ignorance to the human life the land once had.

The oldest one, Kamui, was sitting upon the hard ground floor of the underground reservoir, cross legged, but with one leg upright, his shoulder resting upon his knee, his red cloak shrouding his form, an angel covered in red darkness.

The other vampire twin, Subaru, stood next to him, his black cloak swirling around him like darkness spun into cloth.

Subaru's eyes shone in the reflecting light, a hint of sadness obscuring the glow his grey eyes had left. He remembered what it had felt to be trapped in the water, in the cocoon, asleep but his eyes never opening, never to awaken from his seemingly eternal slumber.

The sleep felt like death, something that ends your existence, giving you perpetual peace and never-ending slumber.

He had the chance to wake up.

The dead do not.

The truth was, the Dimensional Witch had said once that vampires are not immortal, contrary to the myths that humans hear and believe in. It was tragic, really, to believe in myths and fairytales, only to find that what they hear doesn't hold a mirror to reality. It took the fantasy away, and replaced it with reality, a harsh reality at that.

Subaru and his twin Kamui were still blood-drinkers, needing the sustenance of humans to survive, to survive in a perpetual state of being, in the same body for the longest time. Bodies preserved in an eternally young state: they will never age and never die, their suffering to never end.

"Kamui…"

The oldest vampire twin was shaken out of his thought process, snapped from by the soft and gentle voice of his twin, his other half. He looked up and saw the glint of the water's reflection in Subaru's melancholy eyes.

"Yes?"

"What are you thinking about?" Subaru mused, a hint of assurance to his voice.

"I think about a lot of things, Subaru." The eldest twin looked up at the cavernous ceiling above the two, the reservoir reflecting such tribulation in rock. "You should know that better than anyone."

The younger twin smiled to himself, more in remembrance than actual joy. "Yes…I guess I should."

Refractions of memory fit their minds more these days anyway.

Yes, they were not immortal, and they were a part of the mortal coil that would succumb to the end of life sooner or later, but to them, the end wouldn't come soon enough. Only emptiness would stand where desolation and agony once ruled.

The end wouldn't come as quickly as they would fear and want it to. The end wouldn't come as quickly for the twin vampires, nor shall it for them.