Posting for the second time today due to a massive formatting error on the first attempt.
This is for a musical fic challenge on tumblr ( festivaloftheundead): put your ipod on shuffle, write down the first 10 songs that come up, pick a lyric from each, and write a drabble oneshot for each. This one comes in 2 parts because it just worked out like that. This is probably super rusty bc I never write anymore but I had fun with it nonetheless. And I still love these characters so god damn much.
1/10
Song: See You Again - Wiz Khalifa & Charlie Puth
Characters: Mika & Arrow, mentions of others.
Genre: Angst
Warnings: Spoilers for book 9
Pairings: I write Mika & Arrow platonically but you can look at it however you want
(part 1)
It's been a long day without you, my friend / And I'll tell you all about it when I see you again
It's a dreary day when Mika finds himself locked in Paris's long-deserted cell. Even after all this time, it remains untouched from the day the ancient prince left this world behind. Just hours ago, word reached the mountain that the legendary Larten Crepsley has joined him there. The first hunter had fallen.
Between the despair on Arrow's face and the unashamed tears streaming from Seba's tired eyes, Mika needed to escape and his weary feet brought him here. The dark prince doesn't know what he's looking for as he mindlessly leafs through a crate of mementos, but a ripped and yellowing piece of paper manages to rip his focus from the devastation of the outside world. It's a drawing, brought to life by the confident hands of a much younger Paris Skyle. Mika's seen it before but the memory hits him like a battle axe. It's them.Mika, Arrow, Larten, Arra, Kurda, Vancha, Gavner, Vanez, Seba… standing shoulder to shoulder and smiling as if there's nothing wrong in the world. Back then of course, there wasn't. This was the moment after Mika's final trial, as close to a photograph as a vampire could get. He misses this, more terribly than he can even admit to himself. He misses them; the presence of the ones that are gone, and the smiles of the ones that are still here.
He hears thunder roll outside, barely muffled by the layers of rock between him and the sky, thinks about the day when all of them would be together again, and wonders if it's coming sooner than later.
(part II)
How can we not talk about family when family's all that we got? / Everything I do, you were standing there by my side / And now you gon' be with me for the last ride
Arrow's nearly fallen asleep in his throne when Mika returns to the Hall of Princes after disappearing for hours without an explanation. Arrow was mildly annoyed; they were the only two Princes in the mountain. Someone had to guard the stone, which meant Arrow couldn't take a snack break as long as Mika was AWOL.
"I thought you fell down the water closet." the tattooed prince quips with good-humored exasperation as his colleague sinks wearily into his throne.
"Don't ever die." Mika replies abruptly, seeming to not hear Arrow's greeting.
"Pardon you?"
"I mean it. Don't you ever fucking die on me. I don't care what they do to you. I don't care if you get stabbed a dozen times; walk it off. Promise me."
Arrow stares back at him, at a loss for words. There's so much turmoil in Mika's eyes, it's disheartening. This is a stark contrast to the stoic vampire he knows so well. The dark prince has clearly been off doing some thinking, and not the good kind.
"Alright then. Where's this coming from?" Arrow inquires casually, not quite masking his concern.
"Everyone's leaving. Everyone's dying. Look at Crepsley, after all the shit he survived… look where he ended up." Mika sounds dangerously close to the brink of all-out panic.
"Aye… These are dark times, but they won't last forever. Trust me." Arrow dutifully tries to pull him back from the edge.
"I can't lose the last person on this earth I… tolerate. I can't. You're not allowed to die." Mika's voice cracks but his composure remains marginally intact.
Dismay and confusion keep Arrow silent for several long minutes.
"That's not a promise I can keep forever." He says finally. "The world is an exhausting place and I've already seen too much."
Mika rolls his eyes in return, but doesn't meet Arrow's gaze.
"How about this?" Arrow continues, trying to keep his tone light. "I plan to go when I'm seven hundred and two. I'll meet my end wrestling mountain lions; at least three at once but I hope for more. You'll give a long-winded and pretentious memorial speech that makes me sound more interesting than I am. You'll be the senior prince then. Spend a few more decades whipping the cubs into shape, then come find me. Deal?"
Another silence falls, but this one is more comfortable.
"Why mountain lions?" Mika smirks at last.
"Because I have to outdo Paris. Grizzly bears are so last decade. By the way, you can't use mountain lions when you go. Figure out something original."
"Seems fair. Sharks, maybe." Mika muses, leaning back and closing his eyes. And just like that, he's himself again. Arrow reaches out cautiously and places his hand on Mika's shoulder.
"I tolerate you too, by the way." Arrow adds with the purest sincerity. But Mika's already asleep.
-rxy