Alright... this is based off the song Circle by Flyleaf which I post the lyrics in this as well. Yes, this is depressing... no happy ending... the song is bloody depressing so yeah.
Warnings: Severe depression, character death... yeah
Circle
HP Yaoi
by:
Kiyoshi Michi
This was how he had spent the last two decades, locked away in a darkened room in a dilapidated house. The windows were boarded up with a few rays of light occasionally peaking through. The wallpaper was curling and the paint was chipping away, revealing slowly rotting wood underneath. The carpets were all threadbare and the wood worn down. All the furniture was moth eaten or rotting, slowly collapsing under the pressure of time.
In the middle of the room sat a man who had once been great, a man that was the focus of envy. However, time, solitude, and depression had stolen that from him. His once impressive stature was weak and stooped, head always tilted to the floor. His hair, which used to be silken and platinum, was now flaxen and a ruddy brown color. The skin was pale, as it had been long ago, though it now looked sickly instead of gorgeous.
Even his clothes had seen the effects of time spent unwell, with numerous holes and stains.
Had anyone been able to actually enter the house besides the house elf that tried to get him to eat, they would have been shocked not only at the condition of the house, but the items in most rooms. On near every mantel, bookshelf, table, and other flat surfaces were pictures of one man. Some had come from newspapers, others from friends of the man in the pictures.
Today, however, was slightly different. Whereas the man usually just sat in a chair and stared at the floor until night fell, today he was working steadily, in an almost mad pace, over rolls of parchment, quill flying. The man could feel his death approaching and had taken it upon himself to finally explain to everyone why he had chosen to live like this at such a young age - he was only forty-three.
It was the story of the man in the pictures, of how he came into the dying man's life and was no longer there.
"Draco!"
Said blonde rolled his eyes, reaching up to rub his forehead as another stumbled into his office, tripping over the air and nearly hitting his head on the desk. Draco peered through his fingers with a brow raised, waiting until the man suddenly sprung back up, a bright smile on his face.
"Potter, I am at work in case you failed to notice. Added to that, when did we move to a first name basis?"
"Well, to be honest, you didn't. I took it upon myself to start and hope you would follow."
Draco was sorely tempted to slam his head into the desk as Harry took a seat on his office, as if he belonged. He really should have been used to these actions by this point. Draco had moved to France and started a business of his own, a well-known fashion line at that, but he had not been able to shake Potter apparently. He had been transferred when an injury acquired from an Auror mission made him unable to continue.
Draco felt his eyes stray up Harry's face to see the one closed eye with a large scar. Harry had lost his eye during a fight against a Vampire while he was, oddly enough, protecting Draco. The blonde had felt terrible afterwords when he saw Harry smiling at him, blood running down his face as he checked Draco over for any injuries.
"Hey Draco..."
Pulled from his thoughts, Draco raised a brow. "What is it, Potter?"
"What are you doing tonight?"
"Since when has that ever been a concern of yours?"
"Just now. Anyway, would you like to to have dinner with me later?"
Draco paused in the middle of his writing, leaving the quill down which caused a blot to slowly appear. Did Harry really just ask him on a date? What the hell? The blonde looked up to see the male looking around almost nonchalantly, as if Draco's answer would not truly matter.
"Potter... I'm busy. You should find something to use up your time as well."
"Hmm... alright. See ya later, Draco."
With that, Harry was up and gone before Draco could say anything. The youngest Malfoy was far too confused to think on it, though he thought he had seen a fleeting expression of pain across the other's features, but pushed it off. Harry was easily offended as it was, no real reason to worry.
The man paused in his writing, hand holding the quill over the paper. If only he had known then what he knew now, he never would have said no. With a sigh heavy with depression, the man continued writing.
Draco had a week off, which bothered him immensely. He was the highest position in the company, but had been forced to take a vacation or suffer the consequences. Thus, he found himself at home, staying near the door in the middle of the night for reasons he could not explain.
He felt jittery, as if he would need to use his fight-or-flight response soon.
It was then he heard a terrible commotion outside, items being thrown around and yowls of pain and roars of a challenge. Draco furrowed his brows, slowly inching away from the door as the sounds got closer and closer. He clapped a hand over his mouth to keep from screaming as the door was thrown open with a loud slam, a body flying through and landing heavily on the floor.
Before Draco could properly react, the body was up with the arm outstretched. Harry? Draco felt his eyes widen as Harry stood there, shouting something in a language he had personally never heard before. The blonde's eyes moved along the other's arm until he looked to the door and saw several shadows struggling to enter, screeching and screaming as they were slowly pushed back and the door slammed shut, locking. Draco heard a thud and looked back to see Harry had fallen to the floor, apparently unconscious.
With a quick look at the door which was rattling, Draco ran over to Harry and quickly moved him to a couch, laying him there as he stared desperately at his door. Draco sighed and took a seat near Harry, trying to block out the sound of the door and windows rattling, the screams just outside.
It felt like an eternity before everything suddenly stopped. Slowly standing up, Draco looked around before his eyes noticed the lightening on the horizon, signaling sunrise. He was just about to heave a sigh of relief before Harry bolted upright and screamed in pain. Draco turned and was about to run to Harry before he rushed past, a blur of color that confused the blonde, and ran down into the basement.
When Draco looked back at the couch, he saw a ray of light on the spot where Harry had been laying.
When Draco put two and two together, he waited for hours until the sun had disappeared before walking down into the basement. With a slight hesitation, he reached up and turned on the single light, instantly illuminating Harry who stood just inches from him.
When Draco jumped, Harry chuckled. "Sorry. I am rather quiet anymore... well, in the dark."
"... I was about to say... you are the loudest person I have ever met when you want attention."
"Yes... I suppose I am. Now then, if you do not mind, I have to make sure your house is protected from the shadows."
Draco furrowed his brows - what was Harry talking about? He watched as the brunette took a pouch from under his shirt and walked upstairs, the blonde following. He was intrigued as Harry sprinkled salt on all the windowsills, muttering something over and over. When he got to the only door in and out, Harry turned to Draco with an entirely serious expression.
"I need you to stand far back. What I am about to do will piss them off severely."
Draco walked back until Harry nodded and turned back to the door, lining the bottom of the doorway with the salt then throwing the contents at the door itself. As soon as he did this, the door started rattling with a vengeance, nearly breaking in. Draco knew he was shaking, but Harry stood there, the epitome of calm and confidence. Had he dealt with these things before?
"Yes. I have to deal with them every day of my life. I am strong and have a better knowledge of their magick than they do. I am a threat and I must be eliminated. If not me, than everything I love will be destroyed until I surrender."
Everything he loved? Then why were those creatures at his house?
"You are intelligent. I am sure you will figure it out eventually."
"Potter, are you reading my damn mind?"
"Yes. Yes I am. However, I cannot control it. It is not something I can turn off and on like Legillmens. Thus, I apologize in advance for the distress I am likely to cause you over the next few days."
Draco made a face and let his eyes follow Harry as he moved into the kitchen, appearing almost ignorant of the terrible sounds of those things trying to enter. When he heard retching, he rushed to the kitchen to see Harry leaning over the sink, body convulsing slightly before stopping. He sighed and looked back at Draco, a look of resignation on his face.
"My body apparently no longer accepts food into my system without purging it. I thought I had a little more time..."
"Potter, what are you talking about?"
"That Vampire that took my eye back in England... that was not a Vampire. It was one of those... things... outside. Their virus is found in their saliva and under their nails."
"...that scar..."
"Is from where it slashed my eye, so yes, I came in contact with its nails. However, the process of turning is a long and painful one. I now abhor light as it will cause my flesh to burn and my insides to liquefy. A very painful death. I cannot eat food anymore as they feed on flesh, which I shall refuse as long as I can. You, however, have no need to fear me attacking you."
"Why not?"
"In time, you will understand."
Draco watched Harry walk past him, disappearing into the back of the house. The blonde had so many questions rushing into his mind and sat down with his head in his hands before Harry's voice returned.
"Our existence is the saddest."
Draco looked up, his eyes meeting Harry's one. "What do you mean?"
"Just like many creatures, we have a mate. However, once the attacks start, we have a week with them before either they are killed by the others... or we die protecting them. The mates... they never accept us. They do not believe us either capable of loving no matter, or that we are lying to them to lure them to a trap. They often betray us... The story of the start of this starts with a woman who believed the man she was with, one of us, was cheating on her and found him sitting alone one day, and went off.
"'I knew you were cheating on me!' she said. 'I knew and you know what? I went out and had an affair of my own! You never loved me!' She left the poor man feeling rejected and horrified and ran away, only to be captured by another of us a short distance away. He held a sword at her throat and said he would kill her, and it was in that moment that the woman somehow realized the man really did love her. The man came over and begged, 'Please, don't kill her. Take me instead. My life for hers.' The captor, of course, did not understand this has he had not found his mate yet and demanded to know why he would do such a thing. 'I love her more than my own life,' he replied. The captor laughed and let the woman go. She ran until she was a safe distance away and turned to see the head of that man who loved her fall to the ground.
"That woman became the Mother of us. The first generations were raised to love their mates, until the woman died. When she died, some groups became renegades and that is when the killings started. They could not find their mates and had grown cold and evil. That is what is outside your house. They are here to hunt me down."
"Why?"
Harry paused and stared at Draco, who shifted uncomfortably under the stare.
"I made them angry a long time ago."
It had been two nights now, on the beginning of the third. Draco had realized early that day Harry was slowly becoming colder to him. It was as if, one by one, all his emotions were shutting down and were leaving behind only total apathy. There were times he would notice Harry would not blink for hours, staring at the blonde.
"Harry... have you found your mate yet?"
"Yes."
"Then... why aren't you with them?"
"They have already rejected me. Not only that, but the last time I checked they were already with someone. I will not seperate my mate from the person they seem so happy with."
At the mention, Draco felt his thoughts straying to Blaise. He resisted the urge to sigh - he had broken up with Blaise upon discovering him cheating. With three women from the office... all of which were in the bed at the same time. Ass hole.
"Draco... in four days time, I will die."
Draco felt his breathing stop and his heart skip a beat. He looked up to Harry whose face was that of indifference. "But... Can't you..."
"No Draco. It is either my life or theirs. They have more to live for than I do. I have done what I was destined to in this life and I have nothing more to do. They have only just begun their life. I am resigned to the fact I will die while their love is bestowed upon someone else."
Draco stared at Harry as his shoulder's slumped and his eye seemed to get darker in color. Harry had been subject to so many miseries in his life and he was once again sucked into another, one which he was convinced would kill him so his destined mate would live on.
"Harry... is there any way both of you can live?"
"If my mate accepts me then yes, we can both live. But as I have said, they have already rejected me."
"Maybe I ca-"
"No, Draco. You cannot."
The man stopped writing again, realizing tears were starting to blur the ink. He pulled away and took a few deep breaths, a coughing fit starting up before he leaned over to continue writing, blinking away any new tears.
It was now the fifth night and Draco was more than just concerned. Harry looked like shit for lack of a better word. Dark rings were under his eyes, the only one being dull in color, almost black. His cheeks were starting to hollow and he was losing body weight quickly. It was as if being rejected was the thing killing him, not the monsters trying desperately to get in.
Harry hardly spoke to him anymore, though he was constantly staring at the blonde as he tried to go about a somewhat normal routine. How could he have a normal routine when someone he saw as a very close friend was dying in front of him from, literally, a broken heart?
"Draco, do not worry about it. All of us are generally resigned to the fact we will die as soon as we find our mates."
"But..."
"Hmm... Draco, forgive me."
"For what?"
"This."
Draco had no time to react as Harry's fist suddenly slammed into the side of his head, causing his vision to black out and for himself to fall over.
"I do need you to forgive me... I lied about the amount of time I left... Good bye, Draco."
He tried to call Harry back, to reach out for him, but his consciousness left him at that moment.
When Draco woke, he was vaguely away of two things. One was the fact that the sun was starting to rise. The second was he heard screaming outside... Harry... Draco bolted upright, ignoring the throbbing pain in his head as he ran outside, looking around frantically. He felt his throat constrict when he saw Harry has been chained to the side of the house and was slowly burning to death. Draco ran over and attempted to unhook the male, but a nearly blackened arm stopped him.
"Draco... please, leave it... I can't..."
"Harry, please..."
Harry smiled, the pain evident in the look, and reached up to press a light kiss to Draco's lips, lasting only a second before he pulled away.
"No, Draco. I... I will be fine... we move on... we are reincarnated... to try again... and again... I will see you... later..."
Draco tried to blink away his tears, though it failed miserably as Harry gave one last pain-filled scream before slumping over, the movement causing his body to collapse and turn to ash and chunks. Draco tried to reach out to touch the ashes, but a strangled sob pushed its way up from his chest and he curled in on himself.
The man writing the story pushed the papers aside and laid his cheek on the desk, doing nothing to stop the flow of tears. How could he have not known he was Harry's mate? Draco smiled ruefully as he started to slip from the chair, feeling his own heart slowly before coming to a stop, knowing no more.
Told you it was depressing... now, the lyrics to Circle
Circle encircles the earth
Chance and choice break his heart
His innocent arm moves to save me and I am spared
His beautiful arm
Is bloody and cut off
His heart ripped out to show me he loved me
But I would not believe him
He did all that he could
I still would not believe him
I left his arms empty and tied
Outstretched for me until he died
Left his arms empty and tied
Outstretched for me until he died
No man shows greater love
Than when a man
Lays down his life
For his beloved
I left his arms empty and tied
Outstretched for me until he died
Left his arms empty and tied
Outstretched for me until he died
Here I'm alive
And I don't have the right
He gave me the right
Costing him his life
New mercies in the morning
I believe
What if I believe you now
Could it ever change this heart
Forgive me, believe me
Please come back tonight
I believe
What if I believe you now
Could it ever change this heart
Forgive me, believe me
Please come back tonight
Come back to my life
I believe
What if I believe you now
Forgive me, believe me
Please come back tonight
So yeah... review and what not...