Unsealed Vampire: Consequences
"Tsukune, I'm here." Moka appeared to Tsukune suddenly, appearing before him in her pink hair form.
"Moka? MOKA!" Tsukune desperately yelled, hoping against hope that by some miracle, Moka was alive. It was probably his imagination torturing him once again, his mind hopelessly trying to find condolence in unreal figments when reality had been so cruel.
"Yes, I'm here for you Tsukune." She reached out her hand to him. He reached out to grab it, but then…
Behind her, a figure appeared. Tsukune tried to warn Moka, but too late. Mizore chopped her head off once again, with disturbing ease at that. Mizore turned around afterwards, and stared into his eyes.
"Tsukune, your actions have CONSQUENCES."
At that, Tsukune woke up, sobbing once again. He now shared a bed with the killer of his previous lover. There was no escape, as he had learned numerous times. He had been there for three weeks, and he hadn't been able to escape. He had attempted it three times, with each one earning him a scolding, but not much more. It was worse than any of Moka's beatings were to him, because they were so used to it. Was it common for their lovers to be held against their will?
"Another nightmare? Talk to me baby." Mizore got up, used to his wails and screams. She was also used to him being disgusted by her now, having to use the special flowers on an almost constant basis. She didn't know what she preferred, the mindless Tsukune that made love to her passionately, but not with the same thrill as the true one used to, or this cold one that hated her for what she had to do. She assured herself that one day he would understand, but with every passing day, that became more and more difficult.
Tsukune didn't respond, preferring to just be silent now. At first, he verbally degraded Mizore, but found that to be uncomfortable. He didn't like what he was becoming, which in many was the one Moka had defeated. Was he right? Was the world full of nothing but those who don't care about the consequences of their actions? With that question though, he was reminded of his own hypocrisy. He had let his emotions run free, not considering how Mizore may react in the long run. Hence, he had already become one of those people.
"Tsukune, please. Talk to me. Let me help you through this. You don't have to become an emotionless shell…"
Tsukune cried more, but kept the sound of his tears to himself. He buried himself back under covers and into his pillow, hoping Mizore would leave him alone. Seeing his state, she contented herself with lying next to him, and gradually fell back to sleep. She knew he wouldn't try to escape from the bed, he had learned the hard way the first time the futility of that. She appeared to sleep deeply, but she was quite aware of his presence. She had learned not to cling to him, her touch at best would make it where he never slept, and at worse would create a violent reaction.
The rest of the night was uneventful. The morning, on the other hand, wasn't. Mizore decided it was time Tsukune hear an old story. One about how her mother got her lover. It would be one Tsukune wouldn't want to hear, knowing him of late, but one that he needed to hear. It would help her get through his defenses, the ones that blocked out everything in his mind except hating her, missing Moka, and fearing for the future. He would become suicidal if he continued down that path.
"Tsukune, come with me to breakfast this time. I have a story to tell you. If you don't, you don't want to know the consequences." As she expected, he flinched at the word. It had filled his mind, and the only reason he hadn't completely rejected her presence wasn't love, but guilt. He knew he had hurt her, and that he hadn't considered her. He had followed his heart with reckless abandon ignoring the consequences.
She went down, to see her mother, Tsurara, cooking. Tsukune didn't have as violent reaction to her, which was fortunate. His only reaction was to keep up his usual persona of silence. She hadn't killed his beloved, and he hadn't known her in anyway before. She, on the other hand, saw in Tsukune what her husband used to be. Perhaps it was because of that that it only took a brief look in the eye by her daughter for her to understand what tale she wanted to tell.
At that, they ate breakfast in silence, Tsurara especially finding the atmosphere so thick with tension as to make speaking here as possible as speaking underwater. Once they finished, the mother left, leaving her daughter to tell a very… special tale.
"Tsukune, you are very similar to my dad. When my mother was at the age of 17, she had two choices. She could either kidnap a boy from a faraway city, or she could date someone assigned by the village. Since the latter option was considered shameful, she decided she wanted the former. One night, she sneaked into said city. She stalked a boy at the age of 16 she liked. She stalked him for two more days, until eventually, she snatched him." She stopped to let the words sink in.
Seeing that he was ready to continue, "At first, the boy hated her. He didn't have a girlfriend, but he had loved his family, and school had been going well for him. So, he wasn't exactly in the mood on a constant basis. After using lots of flowers, she started to feed him dreams. She's actually quite good at this, to the point of terror for many, including myself. Through this, she got through to him. In the process, she also eliminated various memories." She once again stopped, knowing the words would explode in Tsukune's mind. Now he would truly have consequences to consider.
Seeing how Tsukune face had gone from stone cold to shocked and alerted, she decided to finish the story. "Tsukune, it doesn't have to be that way. However, you'll have to trust me. Otherwise, like before, you'll have to face consequences. I can get through like mom, but I'm not as good as she was. I'll probably destroy a lot more memories in the process. It's your choice. Let me know by tonight what you want to do."
At that, the rest of the day went forwards in its own way. Tsukune usually after breakfast went back up and just… sat soundless. After the three attempts in the first week, all the various shocks slammed into his brain. Not only had he lost the love of his life, but he had also lost any hope of ever seeing his family again.
Today though, he wouldn't be left alone so easily. But, it would be Tsurara who would talk to him, not Mizore. Well, more than just talk. She was going to enter Tsukune's head, like with her husband. Mizore wanted to, but she decided to let her mother do it first, to emphasize what could happen if Tsukune chose to be stubborn.
When she entered the bedroom, she saw Tsukune staring out into space. She came behind him, and put her hands on his forehead. Before he could react, he suddenly felt a strange power come over him, instead of just the normal coldness from her hands.
"Tsukune, you can't continue like this. You must forget…" Moka appeared, but this time in her silver hair form. They were standing in Tsukune's old room at that. Or rather, Moka was standing, while Tsukune found himself on his old bed from way back.
"Moka? What are you saying?" Was this a manipulated dream? But how, this woman had never seen Moka in her inner form. Had she read his mind too? She certainly had never been in his room.
"Tsukune, do you really think it would've lasted? Do you think my father would've tolerated you? He'd kill both of us."
"But… you couldn't you have turned me?"
"Maybe so, maybe no. I may have turned you, but I also could have killed you, or worse, have turned you into a ghoul. Besides, that no longer is possible. You must move on Tsukune."
"But I live with your killer, how can I forgive her for that?" Tsukune never understood why Moka would say these things. He figured it must be manipulation, but on the other hand how could she have known all of this?
"Tsukune, what were you doing? Why didn't you leave at the first opportunity?" Tsukune's mother suddenly appeared. This further confused him if this was a dream brought upon him by an outside force. How could Mizore or Tsurara have known any details about his home life? He hadn't even told Mizore he was human until recently, much less those details.
"You could've escaped the academy unscathed if you had told Moka to release you. So, why didn't you leave? Were you worried about our reaction? Or did you have more selfish reasons? After all, you had found love in two girls, where as before you were ignored at best by the opposite sex." His cousin had appeared behind him to say that. Okay, why would Mizore or Tsurara say that? Wouldn't they have wanted to steer things towards supporting Mizore?
"Tsukune, from day 1 you had fallen for Moka. Why? She abused you, and made you a slave. Was it really love? Or was it her raw sex appeal?" Tsukune's mother shocked Tsukune again. This dream made no sense from any perspective. Why was he being chastised all the sudden?
"Oh yes, hormones are quite powerful things. She lost appeal briefly, but then, she suddenly wasn't so violent. Now, she's sweet, and very available. All you needed was confirmation that she wouldn't abuse you again. That came with that fight. The want to protect her, would've done the same for Inner Moka at that point? When Inner begged for your forgiveness, you of course granted. Sure, you had to wade through some administrators, but then you came back. Without a moment's hesitation, you leaped into bed with her, and then decided to abandon Mizore. Selfish." Tsukune's mother finished.
At that, suddenly everyone started chanting around him, "Selfish, selfish, selfish, selfish…"
Tsukune screamed, hoping the dream would end. They wouldn't stop chanting; only picking up speed and growing in volume until the chant filled the room he was in. He desperately tried to leave, but now everyone held him down, still chanting. His cousin got out a knife, and right when she was about to cut his neck he awoke.
Now, he was in his old room, but the others weren't present. Was the entire ordeal at Youkai Academy a dream? Or rather thousands of dreams stacked on top of each other? Impossible, the dream would've lasted weeks at least. Yet here he was, back in his room.
"Tsukune, come on, the bus has arrived." He had heard that on the first day, when his parents had found Youkai Academy for him. No, it was repeating all over again. Was it better to perhaps avoid it all? Was it possible to avoid the emotional trauma of both girls? But, was that selfish?
"Tsukune, come on! You need to eat breakfast." His mom continued to call out. He decided to go along with it for now, and perhaps somehow sneak off the bus. Then, he would study hard. He would get into a better school, somehow, anything to avoid going to Youkai Academy again.
But then, when he headed downstairs, he saw something quite strange. Sitting at the table with his father at breakfast was the pink haired Moka. What was this? Another dream? How many of these were stacked on top of each other? How many more times would he have to do this?
"Tsukune, don't you want to meet me again? Or are you not as devoted as you claimed to be?" Moka looked at him with raised eyebrows, while his father sat as if nothing was going on behind a newspaper.
"Tsukune, come on, eat breakfast. You need to hurry. You must not be late for the bus, this could be your last chance to get into high school." Tsukune's mother repeated what she had said on the first day. What was going on? Could he fully control himself, or what?
He sat down, and tried to eat breakfast, hoping for the insanity to end. "Yes Tsukune, you better hurry. After all, you wouldn't want to miss your first meeting with me, would you?" At that, the pink haired Moka suddenly transformed into the silver haired one. She was her old prideful self, he could tell.
"Yes, how else will I get blood? Blood packs that taste like crap?" She suddenly lunged over the table, and before Tsukune could react, bit into his neck. She started to drink him, while his parents didn't react at all.
"Tsukune, when you're done with that, go on to the bus. Here is your bag." Tsukune's mother handed him his school bag. He grabbed it, and went outside, hoping the bus wouldn't arrive for some reason. But it did, and Moka was right behind him to push him in. Once he was in the bus again, she bit into his neck once again.
He wanted to sob, but could do nothing. But then, he realized he was being drained dry. His heart couldn't keep up with Moka's desire for blood. When he was about to die of blood loss, he awoke once again.
This time when Tsukune awoke, he found his head cradled in Mizore's lap. She was softly stroking his hair. "Tsukune, those dreams were brought on by my mother, and continued by me. They don't have to be that way. I can guide you through them, and we can heal you together. But you have to trust me Tsukune, you have to willingly let me in. Otherwise, they will continue to be like that. Mom and me managed to avoid destroying any memories, but we won't be able to do that forever.
"How… how did you know?" Tsukune looked up into Mizore's eyes, suddenly feeling completely helpless before her. He had never felt like this, not even with Moka when she was angry. At least then his mind wasn't open to her.
"Tsukune, I absorbed your memories when I entered your mind. Mom did the same. Not all of them mind you, but the ones in the dream. All mom and me did were direct the direction of the dream; we didn't know what was going to be revealed. So, do you think you would've come, if you had known what was going to happen?" Mizore stared back into his eyes, deeply.
"I… don't know. I'm not sure of anything anymore." He started to cry again.
"Shh." Mizore brushed the tears out of Tsukune's eyes.
"But… I'm so selfish for feeling that way."
"No, you're just unsure of yourself. You now doubt all of your decisions."
"Wait… did you not manipulate me there?"
"Yes and no. I did guide the dream to that point, however the only direction I thought it was going in was getting you to think over Moka. Apparently, this led to you doubting every decision you've made since you first arrived at the Academy. I had no idea you were going there. If I had your trust though, I could've helped you."
"Now what?" Tsukune now had been put into a vulnerable state. He had all his previous assumptions shattered by his own mind. A mind guided, sure, but still, all had come from his own memories.
"Tsukune, I can help you. But, will you trust me? I will enter your mind tomorrow, and if you don't fight me, I can help you. If you do, I'll probably end up destroying memories. It's your choice, as I said earlier." As if on cue, outside a blizzard started. It was going to be a tense night for everyone. After all, love and lust weren't the only things delivering painful consequences. Something else had begun, in the human world of all places.