Journeys end in lover's meeting. A man named William had once said that to him. He remembered it, even now. He recalled the man later putting it in one of his plays. The man wrote plays he remembered. He had been wild about them. Said the queen was going to be coming to the new theatres he was having built. He'd never been that interested in literature that did not come from his own islands and so had forgotten the man. He wasn't important.

Journeys end in lover's meeting. He felt like he had been on a journey, one that had stretched the entire centuries of his life. Or maybe it had been other's journeys he had seen as he sat, static, unable to move beyond the instance of the Bite and the Change. Stuck in time he had been, frozen, untouched. Like the photographs he had only become aware of decades after their conception.

Nowak stood across from him in the dingy motel room, the curtains drawn behind him in anticipation of the coming dawn. Cerulean eyes stared at him, more intense than a hawk that had sighted its prey. Hiroki had died he knew, the conclusion to a life that had stretched far beyond its natural ending. And Nowaki had without thought offered his own life in return that he might have another century or two.

Journeys end in lover's meeting. Perhaps he should say joining. For that's what they were to do, he and Nowaki. They had met and now they would join. They were to become one, bound so tight it would be impossible to tell where one began or the other ended. Bound so tight that not even death's sharpest blade could cleave them in two.

They would join and Nowaki would change. Nowaki was a fountain but now he would be his fountain. In return for a new life he would seal himself to an eternity with one of the nosfaratu. He did not think it a fair deal but Nowaki had not shown so much as a flinch in his steady gaze when he had learned this. They were to be together, beyond life and beyond death, forever.

Nowaki's lips were hot and hard against his own, much like his whole body. The heat had seeped into him when they had first met and now he did not know how to exist without it. He felt like a spider that had been captured by a fly. He felt like he was burning alive.

He did not know where their cloths had gone. He did not care. The sheets of the bed beneath him were rough, the threads coarse but he did not notice. Nowaki's skin beneath his hands and against his chest was smooth, save the course hairs that marked his path downward. He followed it.

When they joined Hiroki found himself for the first time in centuries at a loss for words. There was nothing to describe the explosion that burst forth from his very soul as he screamed in ecstasy to the very stars. It was like being plunged into the middle of the sun and as Nowaki's face tightened he could see he too had experienced it. They were no longer Hiroki or Nowaki. They were together. No longer would one be without the other. Hiroki and Nowaki. The two that were one.

Where once Hiroki would have described Nowaki's blood as more exquisite than any he had tasted before, he know knew he was wrong. The warmth that came from beneath his fangs and slide over his taste buds was something that did not even come in dreams. He cried as he came down, shaking, exhaustion weighing deep in his bones. Nowaki was smiling at him, a large dopey grin that only he had the power to look enticing with.

"Hirosan." It was one word, and in it Hiroki could hear how the larger man had claimed it as his whole world.

"Nowaki." He did not feel shame in that he had uttered that word in the same way.

+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+

The morning sun felt warm against his bare sin. He wondered how many people he was giving a scare to as he stood out here on the balcony outside their motel room. He had been surprised there was one. Most motels of this rate did have such things. He hadn't felt any fear in stepping outside. He wondered which he was, the fountain of youth or the fountain of knowledge. For he knew things now, though how he did not know. Somethings were just facts. Like the fact that sunlight was no longer an enemy to his Hirosan. Or that he knew that from beyond this point he would not age and he would not die. He felt it should be a little painful, having the whole world stuffed inside your head in one night that is, but it wasn't. It was what he was made for. He was designed for this role. He wasn't some human who would go mad from so much filling him in so little time. He was a fountain. And now he was Hiroki's.

He clenched, still sore from where the other had entered him the night before. They had been going so fast, and so much strength had gone into it that the bed had collapsed, the metal frame warping. He laughed at this, to make up for being too busy at the time it had happened to do so. They hadn't even noticed, such fragile bits of reality not being enough to pierce the world they had created around them.

There was a stirring behind him, the faintest brush of eyelashes against soft cheeks. He could hear such things now, loud as the sun was bright. Perhaps if he were a human turning vampire he would be disturbed by the clamour around him, and perhaps that was why Hiroki and Usami lived so far away, so cut off behind the thick walls of their library. But he was a fountain, he was merely coming into what was proper for him. What he was made for. It was like a hood had been drawn from his head, oppressive and stifling, and suddenly gone. He felt alive. For the first time in his life he felt like he was living. He wondered if it showed on his face. Such great things could not possible be contained under the skin. There was a shout of terror from behind him.

"NOWAKI!" Hiroki was scrambling to pull the covers over his head, desperate in his panic to shield himself from the sunlight. He laughed again and Hiroki froze.

"Come here Hirosan." And he turned, holding out his hand. Amber eyes stared at him, alight with a fire so bright he didn't know how he had lived without seeing it before. "Come one, it won't hurt you." But he could see Hiroki had realized this already. His whole body seemed to glow in the sunlight. His skin an impossible pale that came from banishing the sun for century after century. It glowed the white of a pearl when the oyster was finally forced to relinquish it treasure. It was his hair though that caught Nowaki's attention. It had looked so dark in the candle light. A burnt umber, the reds more like rust than anything. But now he could see blond, the strands like gold in the auburn locks. And then his eyes, burning like twin stars. This is what Hiroki was supposed to look like. This was how he was made to be presented to the world. His was a body made to be looked at. He smiled. The man was scowling at him.

"Trust me?"

Wordlessly Hiroki rose from the sheets, the perfection of his slim form being revealed to Nowaki's hungry eyes. And then he was walking towards the tall man. When he was close enough Nowaki extended a hand and immediately it was taken.

There they stood, side by side, the sunlight pouring over them, a warm embrace. With a sigh, the sound containing in it the perfect happiness that had welled up inside him, Hiroki rested his head against his lover's bare shoulders as for the first time, centuries after it was built, he was able to look over Tokyo in the light of day.

+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+

This was it, he decided. Well actually he had decided that centuries ago, but when one was over five thousand years old, centuries didn't really count as much.

The concrete was hard, each little rock apparent to him against his bare skin. He was lying on his back, arms spread. Dawn had been hours ago and now he waited, and for a mind that saw years pass as seconds, each minute seemed an eternity as he waited for the thin stream of sunlight to inch its way across the floor of the abandoned parking lot.

It took an hour for him to realize he was not alone. After so long such noises just faded into the back ground. It always took an effort now for him to realize that others were around him. Books were so much easier.

His fingers were burning. He could feel it. He could see it as well, the thin streams of smoke curling in the sun. It was beautiful he realized. So little in life was beautiful now.

The heart beat came from behind a pillar. It was small and quick. A child.

He liked children. Not in the way that he wanted one of his own, but in the way they saw things. Their eyes were bright as they soaked in the world around them. He envied them. Hiroki had been like that. Hiroki had been so full of life once upon a time. Before the Turning he had had so much desperation, had felt so trapped and was so determined to get out. Something in Akihiko had answered and mirrored that. He had given Hiroki what he wanted. It was only latter that he realised that that wasn't how he had wanted it.

But it had turned out well. It had taken time but he had found Hiroki a companion. More than that he had noticed the scent of a fountain, the first unclaimed he had found in millennia and he had pushed them together. And now Hiroki belonged to another. And he was alone.

He could bite another, he supposed. But he had seen what it had done to Hiroki and knew that was not the escape he thought it was. He was immortal but he was also dead. The curse of the nosferatu lay in isolation it had been his punishment. He and the other two, cursed to be alone.

The burning had spread to his elbow now. He watched his skin shine in the sun before igniting. Like a rock, heated from inside, it cracked, seams of eye searing red and orange flames escaped through and licking with greed against his skin. The edged of the cracks darkened to a coal black before flaking and blowing off. If he were younger he would be dust by now, but he wasn't, which he supposed was the point.

He was roused by a tugging on his other arm. Slowly he turned his head and his started eyes connected with those filled with fear. They were green he registered. It was the child, and it had a hold of him, pulling on his arm. It was pulling him out of the sun.

"Move!"

He stared at the child. It had brown hair, badly in need of cutting.

"Move!" The coat it was wearing was far too small for it, despite the child's petite size.

"Move." the child's eyes were big and bright. It was crying.

He got up.

He towered over the child and he could tell it was straining to look up at him. Snot was pouring from its nose and he could see the moment when the new angle had its effect and the child began to choke. Carefully, like dealing with a paper doll, he crouched down and patted the child on the back. Apparently he was still too strong, or perhaps the child was too light, and the little body tipped forward. He caught it, his arm shooting out lightning fast. It was the arm that had been in the sunlight, but it had healed seconds after being released from its torment and not an hint of damage remained. The child realized this. Without hesitation small hands grabbed the arm and brought it too his eyes.

"Woah!" And then the eyes trained on him. "How'd you do that?!"

He attempted a smile. It seemed to work. The child smiled back, his bottom teeth absent. Nothing was concealed behind that smile, no hidden emotions or secret thoughts. He looked it straight in the eye.

"I'm a wizard." No emotion showed in his voice. It never did. Still the child's eyes brightened even more.

"You're a wizard?!" He nodded solemnly. "But, but, but, why did you hurt, hurt yourself?"

He seemed to have trouble remembering where his sentences were supposed to end. Akihiko wondered if it was just a thing children did or if this one was special. He stared back at the eager face, wondering how to answer.

"Because I wanted to." Belatedly he realized it wasn't really the answer one gave to a child. So he tried to amend it. "I want to die."

The child looked at him, clearly shocked. Maybe that wasn't how he should have put it either.

"Why?" He took another pause. Were all children this inquisitive?

"Because I'm tired of living."

"...Oh...then, then, then, if your, your, tired you should not, not live." It looked a bit puzzled, as thought it had realized that wasn't the right answer, but didn't know why. The words had been forced out regardless though. Akihiko wondered how a human would respond. The child seemed to rally itself together. "But why?" He was beginning to wonder what the child's favourite word was, although he was beginning to get an inkling of a suspicion.

"Why what?"

"Why...are you tired?"

"Because I have lived a very long time."

"Because you're a wizard?"

"Yes."

"Then I don't want to be a wizard anymore." Akihiko really didn't know how to respond to that.

"I see."

"Can you not become a wizard?"

"No." He wondered how long with was going to take. He should get the child home. That's what you did to young children, right? When you found them, you should return them. He had read that in a book somewhere. The child was looking at him again, although he supposed studying would be more appropriate.

"You look tired." That he really didn't know how to respond to that either.

"Thank you." The child obviously realized his mistake.

"You don't say thank you! I didn't do anything!"

"...No thank you?" The child giggled.

"You're silly."

"Thank you." The child gave him a look. He decided to defend himself. "I like being silly." and then he decided to elaborate since that comment had extracted a smile from his new companion and he liked the smile where it was. "It means I'm alive."

"But, but, but," the child was obviously puzzling this out with difficulty. "You said, you said you were tired, of, of, being alive."

"There are different kinds of being alive Little One." The green eyes stared at him. "I am tired of the one I am. Being silly is another type of being alive."

"Then, then, then, you should be silly!"

"That I should." And for the first time since the conversation had started Akihiko knew what to say. "Will you help me?"

"Yes!"

-fin-

So I don't know where this came from but I suppose you're just as glad to have it done with as me. Probably less. I was really sick with a high fever and the whole shebang for the first week of college and somehow I managed to make it to my classes, despite not actually remembering doing so (and if not myself someone has been taking notes in my notebook) and at the same time this chapter came out. I claim no responsibility for this chapter and really have only the vaguest recollection of wondering why words were missing then realizing it was because I hadn't written them, but c'est la vie. Here is the end of the story. Finally.