Disclaimer: I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.
Author: Higuchimon
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh Arc-V
Series: Angels, Demons, & Deciding Factors||Story Title: Demon's Poison
Characters: Shun, Yuuto, Ruri||Pairing: N/A
Word Count: chapter: 2,327||story: 2,327||Chapters: 1/4
Genre: Friendship, Angst||Rated: PG
Challenge: Diversity Writing Challenge, H8, multi-chap with exactly 4 chapters; Easter Egg Basket Advent 2016, day #8, mention at least 5 separate colors; Valentine's Day to White Day 2016 day #4, redo a challenge prompt (Dice Gods, Shun & Yuuto friendship); Advent 2015, day #3, write about a friendship; Catch the Yuus & Bracelet Girls: Yuuto; Word Count Set Boot Camp, #41, 8,373 words
Notes: This takes place in the same world as Angel's Rest, and takes place after it. For reference, Ruri, Shun, and Yuuto are all angels, whilst Yuuri & Dennis are demons.
Summary: In escaping from Yuuri, Shun found himself injured by demon poison. Demon poison can do horrible things, even to an angel. Perhaps especially to an angel.
Shun drew in a few sharp breaths and peeled the leather back from his injured leg. He would've used some of the same language he had when he'd fought the demon Yuuri, but his sister hovered not that far away, and he tried to curb his language around her.
Frankly, he knew that she knew the same sort of profanity that he did, but that didn't stop him from at least trying to keep some of those words out of her ears.
Yuuto knelt in front of him, fingers gently prodding at the streaks of blood and the marks from the thorned whip. Shun couldn't stop himself; the words came out of him regardless. Ruri rested a hand on his shoulder.
"Go ahead, you shouldn't hold it in."
He grunted at that, fingers digging into the moss-covered rock he sat on. Haya lay in his lap, purring softly, kneading against his leg. He'd never been so glad that his little cat came with him as he was today. He still thought he could've gotten away from Yuuri or even beaten him if he'd needed to, but Haya made it easier.
"How bad is it?" he asked, directing his attention back to Yuuto, who kept on probing the wounds.
"I've seen worse, but he used some kind of demon poison." Yuuto frowned down at Shun's muscled leg. "I'm not sure of how to treat it."
That wasn't surprising; they all knew how to deal with most kinds of injuries engaged in battle against demons, but poison was something else altogether.
"We're going to have to go to the city, aren't we?" Shun made a face at that. The glistening crystal-white city of Heartland, home of the angels, would probably have someone who knew how to deal with demonic poison. Shun just didn't like going there very often, especially not when something like this happened.
Yuuto carefully rinsed his scarf in the nearby river and washed away the dried blood from the wounds. If Shun looked close enough, he could see a tinge of green around where the thorns dug into him, and his leg throbbed, streaks of pain arching up it more and more. He didn't think he could put it down on the ground if he needed to.
Thankfully he wouldn't need to. Being able to fly was going to come in very handy. But it would get worse. He could feel it getting worse.
Yuuto also hadn't answered Shun's question, but he didn't have to. There wasn't anywhere else around that could help, and he wasn't sure if that would either.
"Come on. The sooner we get back, the better," Yuuto said, reaching out one arm to help Shun to his feet. Ruri helped on the other side, and he did not miss how pale she was. He didn't want her to blame herself for what happened. He'd gone there on his own, when he could've at least asked Yuuto to come along, and what happened after that was the fault of the demon, no one else's.
He scooped Haya up, and the cat obligingly nestled into the hollow of his neck, claws digging into Shun's leather shirt there. It was a position Shun taught him once he'd resigned himself to Haya staying with him and wanting to fly whenever possible.
Yuuto and Ruri watched as Shun beat his wings faster and faster; he couldn't do his normal running takeoff with his leg throbbing the way it did, but he'd figured out standing takeoffs years ago. They weren't his best, but they could get him into the air, and on his way.
"Big brother..." Ruri murmured; it didn't usually take him this long to get up. But he waved her concerns away, until he could feel the wind catching at his wings, and sprang into the air.
He hated acknowledging how clumsy his 'spring' actually was and paid attention to the fact one dark blue feather spiraled downward once he was finally in the air. He wanted to pick it up, but he couldn't get a good angle on it, and he didn't want to mention it to Ruri or Yuuto.
I don't like the look that Yuuri had. And he already has my sword.
For that alone, Shun knew he'd come back to the demon lands and look for what was his, and that would risk encountering Yuuri again. He hadn't enjoyed it the first time and he doubted he would a second But he couldn't let it go.
Neither of them offered him a hand, though he could tell they wanted to. He would've refused it if they had. He could still move on his own. He didn't need that much help. It was enough that they'd come here after him in the first place.
They paced him through the air, Ruri swooping around in large circles to keep an eye out for any trouble, Yuuto staying close in case he had any more problems.
"She wanted to come after you as soon as we found out where you were going," Yuuto murmured as they flew along. "She kept saying how you were doing this to keep her safe."
Shun rolled his eyes. "She wanted to come out this way herself. At least now we know that it's not safe." And if he'd bough that knowledge with pain, then at least it turned out to be useful knowledge.
Yuuto just gave him a mildly amused look that Shun mostly ignored. He had other things on his mind.
"That was Yuuri, wasn't it?" Yuuto said after another few wing-flaps. "I recognized him."
Shun couldn't help a quick snort. "I'd be surprised if you didn't. Wasn't having three of you enough?" One Yuuto, one Yuugo, and one Yuuya. And a Yuuri.
Granted, they'd known of Yuuri for a century or so, but without him popping up to shove his lookalike face in their problems, Shun managed to avoid thinking about him. He wasn't sure of how much longer he could go on doing that.
"I would've thought so," Yuuto replied, a hint of amusement flickering in his gray eyes. "We'll have to do something about him." His gaze fell on the empty sword sheath between Shun's wings. "Your sword?"
Shun just shook his head. He didn't want Yuuto to start trying to get it back for him. He'd made his own mistakes and he'd clean up his own messes.
From the way Yuuto looked at him, Shun had a very strong suspicion that he knew or guessed what Shun's own plans were. They weren't hard to figure out, not with someone who knew him as well as Yuuto did anyway. He would have to make sure something or someone kept Yuuto occupied once he was ready to go in search of his weapon. Maybe he'd ask Yuuya to lend a hand. If anyone would be able to distract Yuuto when he knew Shun had plans that would likely end up with him in even more pain, it was Yuuya.
The problem with that was that Yuuya would want to know why he had a need for Yuuto out of his way for a while. He'd work that out later.
Getting to the city took longer than Shun wanted it to. By the time they landed – or in his case nearly fell – on the balcony of the closest healer, all Shun wanted to do was curl up and sleep and hope the pain wasn't there when he woke up. He didn't need to move his feet very much to fly, but the little bits he did were harder than ever to do. The pain clawed its way up his leg and had nearly reached his waist, a shimmering scarlet claw that dug deeper and deeper into him with each moment.
Stars sparkled overhead in the night-blue sky, blocked out for a few seconds as the healer tossed back their curtain and stepped outside.
"What's the – oh, I see." They turned a firm look onto Shun's leg. "Poison, hm?"
"Yes. I ran up against a demon." He didn't really want to say anything else about it. He twisted around as best that he could, spreading his wings to get himself into a better position, wincing at the way the moving hurt far, far more than it should have.
"Demon poison's nasty," the healer muttered, bringing out a bag of remedies and starting to do their own check over Shun's leg. "Comes in a lot of different flavors. Didn't say anything to tell you what this one could do, I guess?"
Shun had to take a moment to think about what the healer meant. The longer the pain lanced through him, the harder it became to actually think that well. He shook his head, thoughts slowly sludging around in his head. "No." For once he wished he knew a little more about Yuuri, enough to guess at what kind of poison he'd be likely to use. It didn't feel like he was dying, and something that could kill an angel would've probably already done so anyway.
"Of course not." The healer shook their head, hands moving over Shun's leg, probing more deeply than Yuuto had. Shun hissed, and found a hand in his, one that he gripped without thought, and heard Yuuto hissing as well.
"Don't worry about it," Yuuto told him when Shun looked at him. "Just do your best."
Shun had no arguments for that. He couldn't entirely put himself together enough to find one either. The more the healer worked, the more the pain hurt, and the tighter he gripped onto Yuuto's hand.
Ruri stayed on his other side, and her slim hand found its way around his as well. He gripped both of them harder and harder, wishing that he had that foul creature's neck between his hands instead of theirs. He could squeeze then, squeeze until the neck snapped, and if that didn't kill Yuuri, then he'd find something else that would do it, and it would feel so good.
"There," the healer said after a timeless stretch where all Shun could think of was pain and joy at the thought of killing Yuuri. "I've cleaned out all of the wounds and applied one of the more general remedies against demonic poison. This one isn't one I've come across before. I'll need a larger sample before I can work out the antidote to it."
Shun dragged his eyes open, meeting the healer's sea-green ones. "What do you mean?" He knew that it should make sense, but it didn't. Not much did seem to make sense right now, except for pain and the desire to unleash heartfelt revenge on the one who'd caused it. That mess of purple and pink hair, those hideous eyes, the ridiculous outfit – who needed two capes or coats or whatever anyway – all of it floated in the back of his mind, a mocking laugh and that hideous, evil, twisted smile shining bright in his memories.
The only way he could get rid of it would be to get rid of Yuuri. He didn't know how he knew, but it made sense. Yuuri did this to him and he would know how to fix it.
Shun started to stumble to his feet, hissing out even fouler language than he'd used before when another purple-pink bolt of pain shot through him. Ruri and Yuuto stood beside him a heartbeat later, each gripping onto one shoulder.
"You're not going anywhere," Yuuto told him. "Don't make me put you down."
It wouldn't have been the first time he did, and Shun doubted it would be the last. Despite the disparity in their sizes, Yuuto held a far stronger punch than he did, and Shun knew if Yuuto got a good hit in, then he'd be unable to do anything but lay in his bed for hours. Hours that Yuuto would likely use to get hold of Yuuri himself.
That wouldn't happen. He'd gotten into this on his own and he'd get it out on his own no matter what.
"I have to get more of that poison," Shun growled instead. "I have to."
Ruri patted him on one shoulder as they helped him inside the healer's tower chambers, where patients who couldn't return to their own homes rested. "We know we need more of it. Don't you worry about it. We'll take are of it." Her eyes flickered with rage almost as strong as his. "And if we can bring that demon's head back, we'll do that too."
Yuuto sighed at both of them. "We can worry about revenge later. We need to make sure Shun's all right first."
Shun paid little enough attention to what they were saying. He needed to get back in the air, but they wouldn't let him, not yet. As much as it hurt to think right now, a silver sliver of cold planning slid through him.
He would rest. He would let them think he was sound asleep. Then while they were off trying to find the demon, he would leave. He would be able to locate him much quicker, and he would return with not only the demon's poison but that evil whip, too. Yuuri wouldn't be able to do to anyone else what he'd done to Shun.
The lights faded around him as he found himself tucked up in a warm bed, wings folded close around him. The rest he'd gotten while under the influence of the Angel's Rest flowers seemed far away now. A small spot of warmth rested at the top of his neck, above his wings. Haya. He would have to leave Haya here. It wouldn't be safe otherwise; he knew that now. Yuuto and Ruri could take care of him while Shun was away. He wouldn't be away that long.
Shun didn't know when his half-formed visions of strangling Yuuri and the pain ceasing slid into dreams of doing much the same.
To Be Continued
Note: Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.