A/N: Chapter 36. Amirite?

"So… what was it you wanted to tell me earlier?"

Mika closed his eyes, inhaled slowly, tried not to sigh – whether in exasperation or genuine annoyance was anyone's guess – before he glanced back over his shoulder.

Yuu, pale and wobbly at the knees but standing up regardless, grinned cheekily and raised an expectant eyebrow at him as if this were another one of their games.

Like nothing had changed at all.

"What are you babbling about?" Mika drawled, quickly pushing away the unwelcome surge of pain and memory the thought had dredged up.

Yuu's wince was barely noticeable; his grin didn't dim, but his eyes lost a hint of their mischievous spark for a moment.

The sunshiny, steadfast optimist with clever sapphire eyes he'd known had grown into the clouded, serious soldier with crimson eyes now staring at him, but that didn't matter. Nothing (too much) had changed. He wouldn't let it bother him.

With a shake of his head, Yuu did his best to refocus on the question he'd asked, doing his best to think around the buzz in his mind and keep himself upright – Mika had said he was thirsty, but damn – squinting at his friend with clear disapproval.

"No dodging questions; you know what I'm talking about, you jerk. You said you had something to tell me before you died, and I told you you could tell me after you drank my blood and saved your life. You drank my blood, so…" he gestured vaguely with his arm in a shaky circle. "Tell me."

Even fuzzy-headed from blood loss, Yuu still saw the way Mika bit his lip uncertainly, his too-sharp teeth easily piercing the skin and causing a drop of blood to bead up and drip down his chin, only to hit the already soaked cloak still covering Mika's shoulders. The blonde didn't even appear to notice, but Yuu did; Yuu followed the droplet's trail, muddled brain somehow focusing on 'Is that my blood, mixed with Mika's? Are we literally blood related now? A piece of me is inside Mika now…'

He zoned out for a second, imagination suddenly caught up in the wave 'I am now inside Mika holy shit', and he couldn't help but jump at the sound of his name.

Mika smiled at him affectionately, a flash of the familiar nighttime partner in crime and closest confidante Yuu had been missing for the past four years rising up. "Yuu, I thought those were going to be the last words I would ever utter on this earth. I thought they would be my dying message," he explained, either not noticing or ignoring Yuu's pained grimace. The blonde's expression grew downright sly as he said, "I'm not just going to tell you now that everything's A-OK again. I have to wait for the right moment."

"What, like when you're dying again?!" Yuu squawked furiously, eye glinting dangerously as if to dare anyone to harm his family now that they were together again.

Mika plainly rolled his scarlet eyes, though inwardly he shuddered. "No, just… later. Not here, for starters. Let's go."

"Hey, no! You have to tell me first; that was our deal!" Yuu protested, to which Mika's only response was to walk over from his position near the exit to dispassionately scoop the other teen off his feet and carry him through the crumbling building, fondly tuning out the outraged complaints and focusing instead on the steady warmth in his arms, the familiar half-forgotten scent in his nose, the lonely, weeping heart beating so close to his stilled, unmoving one.

I'm sorry I'm a monster, Yuu. I know you don't see me that way, but… I'm sorry I'm one of them now. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you; from the vampires, from the humans, from the world. I'm sorry… thank you.

I love you.

A/N: I AM MOST CURIOUS OF WHAT THAT MESSAGE MIKA WANTED TO GIVE YUU WAS?! This is clearly my interpretation of it. The last bit, if you couldn't tell, is what Mika would have told Yuu if he'd been allowed to finish a sentence. And now I must cry. :^)
~Persephone