Warning: This story is as A/U as it gets. If you don't like that, Seiya/Usagi romances, and a life after the Stars Saga, don't read on!

Here a small summary, so you lot won't be completely lost ;) : Chaos defeated and gone, Usagi and her friends settle down to their normal lives at last. But tragedy strikes once more, leaving Usagi not only utterly alone, but also immortal. The Gates of Time now unguarded, strange things start to happen, parallel universes overlapping, the forces of time jumbled. Usagi has to learn to get on alone, damned to eternity, fighting the new enemy that has come upon Tokyo: vampires. Time passes, leaving her almost unrecognizable to the shining star that returns to the blue planet one day.

You like? Then read on, my dears!

ATTENTION: I've rewritten huge chunks of the story, as I think the story desperately needed it. Some of the old parts might sill appear later on, so don't be surprised if something seems familiar. I also cut down the title (from "Bloodstained Angel" to "Bloodstained") to lose some of the drama ;-)

WARNING: This story is not for kiddies. There's gonna be swearing, violence, alcohol, maybe drugs, probably sex. If you can't handle that, please don't read it or at least don't complain.

Bloodstained

Chapter 1

by Greta

"Cheers," she said, raising the clear bottle of whiskey to the sky, leaning back against the rough trunk of a tree. Overlooking the city she had been protecting for far too long now, she sighed once, uncapping the bottle slowly before taking a large swallow of the amber liquid. She shuddered slightly as the alcohol left its fiery trail down her throat. Somehow she'd never get used to its taste.

But she felt like getting drunk tonight, very, very drunk. Her goal wasn't to feel stoned and plastered - no, today she needed to go further, much further. She wanted to reach that oh so sweet point of no return, where she could at last forget her mind and body, and let herself fall back into the open arms of sought-after unconsciousness. No thoughts or dreams would disturb her there for a few precious hours.

Closing her eyes while raising the glass bottle once more to her lips, she could feel her thoughts wander, wander off exactly to the place where she didn't want them, didn't need them. They were memories that she wanted to avoid like nothing else. But it was a useless attempt. After all, today was an anniversary, and it wasn't just any anniversary either. Not even she could deny this, try as hard as she might.

It was the anniversary of a day so long ago in the past that it seemed strange to her that she could still recall it exactly as it had been. Every small detail, every sound, every smell.

Her head leaning back heavily, her eyes shut for a moment and her pale fingers led the bottle of alcohol to rest beside her. Her face looked as if she was in pain.

She could remember it all. The cool air of the morning that had chilled her to the spine, letting goose bumps rise on her slender limbs, only small tufts of clouds marring the light blue sky, as she watched the day progress from her room, never once realising it would be the last time that she sat in her room in such a carefree manner.

She had used to love the sun spilling on a glorious day, its warm rays reaching her very core. But there was nothing wonderful about the sun for her anymore. All it did was remind her of what she didn't have, could never have again, over and over again.

Digging her nails into her palm, she forced herself to open her eyes, draining the whiskey faster. She needed to get away from these thoughts, fast.

"One hundred years," she whispered slowly to herself. "One hundred years …" she repeated softly. It felt like her body was being torn in two: a part of her couldn't bear to let her thoughts wander off, while another struggled to gain access to those memories. She had relived that one fateful day thousands of times; she had suffered like hell for years because of it. But she knew that today of all days, she couldn't bear a trip down memory lane. Scrunching up her forehead in thought, she tried to avert her thoughts. How old did this anniversary make her now? She laughed silently to herself as she realized that the years were getting hard to count.

"I guess you've really turned old, girl," she continued talking to herself, only the inky silence of the night there to keep her company. Normally she liked the dark and the quiet, she felt at ease on her own, with no one there watching her, crowding her. But today she couldn't help but feel as if the silence left far too much room for her thoughts.

The bright lights of Tokyo sparkled up at her, garish and unfriendly in all their bright neon colours. The long time she had known this city now, had, strangely enough, barely done a thing to change its scenery, only even higher, even more modern bodies of buildings taking over its centre.

Lifting her eyes from the city that had brought her so much pain up to the stars above, she grimaced at the moon hanging innocently in the sky, bright and full. It seemed to mock her in its peacefulness once again, having stayed behind in happier times. Oh, how she hated looking up at the moon. It never did her any good, the good memories it brought up in her making her as furious as the bad. "Fuck you," she muttered, her lips at the bottle once more, her swallows of whiskey becoming larger. The fiery burn of the whiskey was only half as bad as it had been before. She held out the bottle in front of her, measuring out how much of the liquid she had already drained with her fingers. A third of it was nearly gone.

"I think it's time for a toast," she mumbled, putting down the bottle on the ground before sitting up straight again. Her long and slender lags, clad in black high-heeled leather boots, were hanging over the edge of the narrow cobble-stone wall she was sitting on. That wall had already seen better days, as it was slowly crumbling into dust. It was after all older than she was, which did mean something nowadays. The low wall had been erected on an innocent-enough looking hill, which rose softly, only to turn into a steep cliff unexpectedly and without warning. The only thing that kept people from stumbling over the edge blindly was the little, crumbling stone wall she was sitting on. Her hands brushed the stone wind and weather had turned smooth and soft, before pushing herself to her feet.

There was no better view of Tokyo to be found, but she had yet to meet another living soul up here. The narrow wall gave her feet just enough space to stand upon it, her high-heeled shoes adding to the danger. But the danger left her cold and unexcited, she had lost her fear of death a long, long time ago. The steep cliff, with its jagged rocks, only morbidly fascinated her, especially in this darkness, where it seemed to be endless. Oh how nice it would be to just slip noiselessly into an eternal darkness.

Crouching down slightly she picked up the bottle once more. She stood there silently for a few minutes, her silver hair swaying in the breeze.

"To … to myself, these bloodstained fingers, and my curse of eternity upon this hell," she whispered to the sky, raising the bottle clenched tightly in-between her fingers up to the sky once more, before taking a large swallow of the alcohol.

As if in silent answer, a shooting star crossed the sky she had toasted to, passing the moon.