The wings sprouted from his back, red and ragged. They were covered in his blood, the deep crimson liquid dripping onto the cold cement. The dark night reflected the state of his heart.
The three Regalias tightened the triangle of energy surrounding him. All three of them were struggling, though it was Kazuma who was having the hardest time concentrating. He kept glancing towards Yato's shivering body. He saw Yato struggling against the pain and he felt a pang in his heart, as though he was the one experiencing the pain. He felt the weight of the ablution on his shoulders. Fear kept him frozen in his place, his muscles tense as he struggled to keep his arm steady.
The phantom was slowly taking over Yukine's body. His shoulders were slowly turning deep purple, with yellow eyes opening and looking at the three Regalias. It made eye contact with all three of them, evil reflected in the yellow orb.
Soft, high-pitched voice seemed to come from Yukine's back. "Die! Die!" They said, hundreds of them mashing together in a horrifying cacophony.
The voices sent a chill down Mayu's back. The one part she hated the most about being a Regalia was hearing the phantoms. The voices weren't even remotely human. They entered her ears and circled around her mind, interrupting her thoughts and breaking her concentration.
Daikoku was unfazed. He had performed many ablutions in the past. He blocked the voices out and focused on Yukine. "Confess your sins!" He urged, meeting Yukine's scared yet hateful gaze with his own calm eyes.
Hiyori's eyes were locked on Yato. Despite Kofuku's attempts to shield Hiyori from her friends' struggles, she couldn't look away from Yato. Even as she listened to Yukine's screams, she stared at Yato. The blight was spreading over his skin faster and faster, turning his hands completely purple. His neck matched Yukine's with the exception of the yellow eyes.
Yato was trying to grip at something he couldn't hold. The pain in his chest was unbearable, a searing sensation that increased exponentially with each heartbeat. His skin felt like it was melting, being burned off by the blight. He had been dealing with the pain for nearly a week, ever since Yukine first stung him, but he knew he wouldn't last much longer. His chest was getting tighter and tighter, his lungs slowly shrinking and refusing take in air as he continuously tried to breathe. White spots appeared in front of his eyes, giving him a headache. He closed them, focusing on breathing. In then out. Inhale, exhale. Each breath hurt.
Kofuku was scared for both Yato and Daikoku. If the ablution failed, both of them would die; Yato would be killed by the blight and Daikoku could be swallowed by the phantom Yukine would become. There was so much at stake...
Yukine felt only anger. It wasn't his fault that he was dead. He never asked to die, to be stuck as a Regalia for a sweaty-handed, jersey-wearing, unpopular god. He never asked to be alone, trapped in a lonely world where he could not interact with people his own age. Trapped in a lonely world where he can't make any friends. So what if he took a few things? So what if he destroyed a few windows and vandalized a few buildings? He shouldn't be to blame for those things, after all, what else could he do?
"Confess your wrongdoings!" Daikoku yelled, grimacing as the phantom inside Yukine took over more of the young boy's body.
"I haven't done anything wrong!" Yukine exclaimed, clenching his phantom infected fists. The purple stain was moving up his face, slowly covering his right eye. It was creeping down his shoulder, moving towards the red symbol on the left side of his chest.
Yato turned his head, looking at Yukine. He watched the symbol fading into the deep purple infection. He had to say something, to call out Yukine's name. He had to keep him from turning into a phantom. He had to save him. Yato opened his mouth to speak but sounds wouldn't come. Blood shot up his throat and escaped from his mouth. He coughed, the bitter metallic liquid choking him. He tried again, over and over again but each time blood interrupted his attempts.
Hiyori saw him. She saw the blood hit the ground every time he opened his mouth. She saw as he tried to prop himself up on his elbows to look into Yukine's eyes. She saw him collapse on the ground.
She felt like crying. She'd resented Yato in the beginning, hating his carefree attitude and the way he treated people, but now he was a close friend, someone whom she cared about. She couldn't take seeing him like this, in so much pain.
"Yukine!" She screamed, focusing on the boy with the red, demonic wings. With tears in her eyes, she screamed at him, "Yato's still here for you Yukine! Surely you heard him too!" She moved closer, taking slowly, hesitant steps towards him. She recited Yato's desperate promise a few days ago, his words of faith in Yukine. "Those words were almost like a father's!" She screamed over the wind that blew her hair away from her face and rushed past her ears.
'Like a fathers.' Those words rushed around on Yukine's head but they didn't make sense. A father? He didn't have a father. He had nobody. He was alone. He was dead. The dead could not interact with the living. Yukine did not have a father.
"Even when you kept hurting and betraying Yato, he kept on enduring it!" Hiyori continued, the words tumbling out before she could control them. "But if you're still going to betray someone like that..."
Betrayal. The word swam around in Yukine's head. Betrayal. Yes. Exactly. Everyone had betrayed him. They had all betrayed him. He hated them, all of them. Everyone who had ever hurt him, everyone who had betrayed him, they should die. They should all die. Then, only then, could they possibly understand the pain he was going through.
"Then we're not friends anymore!" Hiyori finished, screaming the words at the top of her lungs.
The words fell on deaf ears. Yukine was no longer listening. He no longer cared. He wanted blood. He wanted to kill. He wanted to make everyone feel the same way he did.
Yato saw the change in Yukine. He knew Yukine was gone. He knew he was out of time.
He felt himself fading away. He saw his vision growing blurry and dark. His eyes began closing on their own, too heavy to stay open.
A single tear slipped from his right away. The tear was for the boy he couldn't save. The boy he cared for. The boy who became a phantom, right in front of his eyes.
Yato's heart slowed, his pulse growing weaker and weaker until it stopped. Short pants stopped exiting his mouth as he lungs halted. His muscles relaxed, his hand no longer gripping the blue handkerchief tied around his purple neck. It fell, hitting the cold ground he could no longer feel.
Hiyori screamed. She had seen Yato's breathing slow and his chest stop. She saw his hand fall away. She helplessly watched her friend as he died on the ground in front of her. She screamed for the friend she couldn't save.
Kofuku turned Hiyori away, holding the screaming girl. Hiyori buried her head in Kofuku's shoulder, howling and crying.
Kofuku's gaze met Daikoku. She saw the fear and the sadness in his eyes that mirrored her own.
The ablution had failed. Yukine was gone. Yato was dead. They had failed.
"Kokki!" Kofuku yelled, gently leading Hiyori into the house and sliding the door shut as she caught her fan. She hated using him as a weapon but since none of the other Regalias were near their masters, she knew she had no choice. She couldn't take the risk of them being swallowed by the phantom that had consumed Yukine.
With a skillful flick of her wrist, she sent her Regalia flying through the air towards the winged phantom. He easily sliced the purple skin, tearing through the blood-red wings. She winced as the purple and yellow shape that still resembled a human disappeared into a white light, short rays spreading then disappearing.
Kokki returned to Kofuku like a boomerang. "Daikoku." She solemnly whispered, releasing the fan as he transformed into her closest companion.
The air was heavy. Nobody spoke. There was nothing to say. There was nothing to be done. Yukine and Yato were gone, dead.
The weight of their failure hung on their shoulders. Hiyori's sobs echoed through the air.
All three Regalias stared at Yato's motionless body, covered in blight. Why hadn't he done something earlier when Yukine first stung him? Why hadn't he attempted an ablution then? Why had he endured it for so long?
Hiyori understood why. Kofuku and Daikoku understood too.
An ablution would mean punishment. Yato didn't want to punish Yukine. He cared for the boy more than anything. Yato loved Yukine.
He'd loved Yukine until the painful end.