Break The Chain

A Digital Devil Saga Fic by ChronicLegCramp-Since'99

Pairing: Serph/Heat

*Disclaimer: All characters and places belong to Atlus, respectively*

Not long after Serph, Argilla, Cielo and Gale had headed to the Embryon's second base, the leader found himself entering their makeshift conference room. They were due to meet with Lupa, the leader of the Wolves in Svadhisthana, however for the time being Serph had ordered everyone to recuperate. The final battle against Bat had worn them down to say the least and they needed to regain some strength before heading out once again.

The room was barren, nobody around but for one solitary figure standing in front of one of the blown out windows. It was quiet- almost too quiet- and Serph found a strange sense of what he uneasily determined as solace from the familiar pitter-patter of rain beyond the sturdy walls. His neutral gaze landed on fiery locks of hair, taking in the rigid set of broad shoulders. Heat hadn't turned around at his entrance but somehow he knew that the taller man sensed his presence. He also knew something wasn't right with his second in command, had slowly picked up on the increasing edginess that had formed since that fateful day they were transformed into demons. It was hard to put into words how he was responding to the change but what he could tell was that he didn't...like it.

Despite the burst of new previously undiscovered emotions, Heat seemed to be growing detached from the rest of the tribe, or at least seemed to be exuding a will to be detached from them. Serph had trouble understanding it exactly, but he couldn't shake the idea that Heat simply didn't want to be with them any longer. The questionably delayed stirring of emotions that was going on within him- so much slower than his comrades- stopped altogether whenever he found himself contemplating the prospect that Heat might desert. It was as though if he fought against the emotions developing inside him, reverted back to the purely logical, unreactive frame of mind he possessed before everything changed, it would in turn prevent the change happening between himself and Heat. Even as he thought this however, he realised it wouldn't work. Already on more than one occasion, the redhead had expressed fierce displeasure at Serph's continued dispassionate responses to the environment around them.

'Hey, say something, Serph.'

His breathing grew restricted at the memory, recalling being at a loss for what Heat had wanted him to say; the way the redhead's wan features had scowled deeply at his silence. His fine silver eyebrows pulled together faintly. Sera. It all seemed to revolve around Sera. Heat had appeared all but consumed by the need to figure out who she was and where she'd come from. Serph on the other hand, had merely accepted her as a new member of the tribe, his focus zeroing in on Heat's bizarre and ever distant behaviour instead.

Drifting out of his reverie back to the present, without another seconds hesitation, he warily approached his closest comrade. Stopping at the taller man's side, he watched mutely as the latter stiffened, eyes narrowing ever so slightly.

"Checking up on me?" Heat stated more than asked before he could say anything, voice low and tone biting. The word 'sarcasm' flitted to his mind briefly but it did little to help him determine Heat's meaning.

"Yes," he answered after a pause in which no alternative came to mind. "Status." He gazed up at the redhead in mild curiosity as a bitter smile twisted his lips, eyes still facing forwards.

"That all you can say, Serph?" The gruffness of Heat's voice suggested to Serph that it belied other suppressed emotions but he couldn't begin to work them out. When he didn't immediately reply, the redhead's features darkened, jaw muscles visibly jumping under clenched teeth. With the conversation disintegrating into something Serph found disorientatingly uncomfortable, he decided to take a moment to genuinely search inside himself for the real reason he was here and what it was he wanted to convey to his right hand man.

"I was...worried about you. I am," he managed to say, absently noting the uncertainty colouring his tones, exposing a side to himself he was unfamiliar with. He thought that if it was anyone other than Heat he was talking to, he wouldn't have been able to do it; hiding your vulnerabilities was a skill- no, an instinct- that was quickly engrained in you when you were born into The Junkyard. It was either that or be defeated before you'd stepped foot on the battlefield. Simultaneously, Heat was possibly the most dangerous person he could show his weaknesses to, especially with everyone's new found emotions running high. He couldn't help but trust the redhead all the same. They had stood side by side for far too long to be separated in such an unthinkable way as betrayal. No, if the day came where they no longer stood together, leading their tribe into victory- into Nirvana- it could only be in the event that one or both of them had perished.

At his heartfelt words, Heat's eyes had snapped sideways to finally meet his, an odd mixture of incredulity and anger and something else Serph couldn't read seething in their piercing depths. Serph didn't miss the way Heat swallowed thickly as he waited patiently for a response, grey eyes subdued as they automatically scanned strong, masculine features.

"You're worried about me?" The hot-head said scathingly, turning away again with his arms folded tightly. On base impulse, Serph's hand came up to settle very lightly on Heat's upper arm, keen eyes watching for the latter's reaction. Heat tensed under his touch, lips parting as if in surprise, something that surprised Serph as well. He didn't think he'd ever see the day where Heat was caught off guard, much less by him. He remained silently on tenterhooks, fully expecting the redhead to roughly shake him off; but he didn't. An idea started to form in Serph's mind- an idea that perhaps what Heat truly wanted wasn't distance but the complete opposite. As his palm warmed under Heat's direct body heat, he had to wonder if perhaps he was seeking the same. A connection, tangible and real. Regretting the cold, formal order to know the man's status, he wracked his brain minutely for a better choice of words.

"Heat," he began carefully, voice soft in an attempt to create further privacy for the two of them, despite being in an empty room together. "You are my second in command..." He trailed off uselessly, face remaining blank even as a ball of static energy sparked and flared in his gut. Was this frustration? Anger? He pondered, frown deepening significantly. Frustration that he couldn't get the right words out, words that would reach Heat. He exhaled slowly. "When I was born there was nothing. Nothing but never-ending darkness and downpour. Nothing...and then there was you. There is no one I trust more than you, no one I know I can rely on as much as you.

"Everyone is confused, conflicted, uncomprehending the new feelings and sensations they are being exposed to. The only confusion that I am feeling is why for unspecified reasons, you have not been able to look at me with anything but...hate." The single word left a residual taste of burnt ash on his tongue as it slipped past his lips, but he pushed on, unwilling to lose the momentum he had managed to gain. "I can see you are battling with something and I know I might not be fully equipped to help in this area, but I want to help you. If you would talk to me, tell me what is troubling you, what is so wrong that after all this time you would turn your back on me...?" He could only be faintly relieved for the naturally unnatural speech patterns he possessed, such open and honest words being masked by his monotonous, almost inflectionless intonation. Heat's head was tilted to the side, proof that he had been listening if nothing else, but he didn't look at Serph.

"You can't help," the redhead muttered under his breath, after a stiflingly long pause that had stretched out between them like an omen. "You don't know a thing about how I'm feeling." Serph didn't say any more, thinking that he had spent all his words in one go. Hesitantly, he applied the barest pressure to Heat's arm in what his mind told him was in 'support'. Despite his lack of response verbally, the redhead continued in his lowered tones. "I'm...angry. All the time, and if it's not anger then it's something else just as violent. I don't even know why so how am I supposed to talk to you about it? It's pointless. We just keep on moving towards our goal. There was no need for words before, we don't need'em now."

Serph stayed silent for a long time, mind reeling from Heat's words as he tried to process them, make sense of them. On impulse he stepped forward, standing squarely in Heat's personal space, at his side. He opened his mouth to speak as the redhead's eyes flew up to his; intense, questioning, wary. He started a couple of times, mouth forming words that wouldn't come. His mind was nothing but a blank page now, his mouth finally falling closed and locking stiffly. There it was again, frustration. For the briefest moment, those feelings swirling haphazardly inside of him must have flashed upon his face because Heat's gaze, already boring into his, lightened belatedly.

It was peculiar, seeing the way his second in command's face completely changed as a result of his eyes widening just a fraction, eyebrows pulling apart ever so slightly. Realisation...understanding? Pity? It was difficult to put names to the emotions flickering back and forth within those eyes, even harder working out what they meant in relation to him, to the situation. What had Heat realised- understood? And why had that made him a source of pity?

Before he could even consider voicing these questions, Heat bowed his head solemnly and shut his eyes. Watching the redhead's face for a reaction, he gently glided his hand up to the man's shoulder, squeezing with a bit more confidence and conviction this time. When Heat didn't respond other than to relax what seemed like every muscle in his body, Serph breathed out heavily through his nose and mimicked his comrades stance, head down and eyes shuttered. As if on cue, all the oppressive tension cloaking them dissipated, leaving a strong sense of peaceful suspension between them. Peace in the middle of a trench. It was the first time he'd felt at one with Heat, like a solid unit, since the rules of The Junkyard had lost effect.

"Buddy! Dere ya...are..." That's all it took to burst the bubble; to have Heat rapidly tensing up beneath his hand and retreating from him with sharp movements. "Sorry for interruptin'?" Cielo's embarrassed yet apologetic words went unnoticed as Serph attempted to catch Heat's gaze, his own hands balling into fists at the dark look consuming the redhead's features all over again.

"Heat-"

"I'm outta here." Serph turned as his right hand man cut him off, storming past him, past Cielo and through the doorway.

"Ey, Heat, you okay...?" The man with the pastel blue braids called after him before trailing off and looking back at Serph with a melodramatic grimace across his face. "Dat was my fault, wasn't it? Whad up wid Heat nowadays anyway? 'Alf da tribes scared of him-" Serph stood motionless, eyes faraway and ears not hearing a word his subordinate was saying. When he eventually registered Cielo staring at him expectantly, he forced a brisk nod, all the encouragement the energetic man needed to continue rabbiting on.

Quietly, the silver haired leader moved over to the window Heat had been gazing out of. In the distance he could see the outskirts of the base through the sheets of rain and a familiar lone figure running as fast as their legs could carry them. Instead of heading towards the sanctuary of the Embryon's boarders, they headed away, running head-first into the wilderness.

Heat...where do you go...? Where do you run to...?

Thanks for reading!

My first attempt at these two so I hope I did them justice!

This fic was inspired by the song My Sweet Prince by Placebo. I know the songs about being addicted to heroin or whatever but ignoring that it just seemed to fit these two so painfully well :)