Freezing Cold Into the Hands of the Devil
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story
One Shot
The fire crackled as it burned the body into ashes, sending bright sparks flying about into the darkened skies. The smell of burning flesh permeated the air, yet they paid it no mind. They were used to it – burning bodies of enemies, friends and even strangers.
Then again, it wasn't that they liked doing it, it was the least they could do to their fallen friend – to give him a funeral worthy of a great hunter.
"...I'm so sorry – "
"Shut up." Miyuki, the older of the two, coldly interrupted as he continued to blankly gaze at the flames burning the flesh and bones of the person he considered as the brother he never had. "You got him killed. You don't get to apologize."
Sawamura, young as he was, was already laden with guilt that he continued to bury and hide at the back of his head. But this was still too fresh – too new and all his fault. He wanted to apologize even if it wasn't enough. He didn't know how to apologize more than saying sorry (A word that he never seemed to stop spewing from his mouth because when he thought he was trying to do something good, it always ended up a bit not good at all).
Lowering his gaze to the ground, he hesitantly reasoned out. "We were trying to help you…"
"I didn't need help." The fire crackled again. "I told you to leave it alone." Miyuki's eyes were accusing and full of hatred as he caught Sawamura's when he sneaked a peek. The moment was just a beat too long before Miyuki returned his sights to the burning body (Maybe he wanted to watch every last moment Kuramochi was on earth, even if he was wrapped up and burning).
Sawamura suppressed a shiver, but he couldn't stop his eyes glistening ever so slightly. "What was I supposed to do? Just…" He directed his eyes towards the high evergreens of the woods, finding the light to be quite blinding. "Watch you die?"
The wind started to lightly howl around them, the cold seeping into their skin (And maybe into their very being).
"The curse isn't going to kill me."
Sawamura let out a quivering breath as he shook his head in some sort of denial. "Maybe not, but…when it's done with you, you won't be you anymore." His partner only had a mask of a stone-cold indifference that felt like pinpricks on his cold skin. With a heavy heart, he continued to express what he truly felt with more conviction that he had before. "Kazuya, you're all I've got. So, of course, I was gonna fight for you because that's what we do." His words came out as shaky in the end, so he tried to amend it by saying more – reasoning more that all he had were good intentions (lined with bad decisions). "Listen, I had a shot – "
"Yeah, you had a shot." Miyuki nodded in agreement, before catching Sawamura's eyes again.
He felt cold.
"Youichi's dead."
His heart sped faster.
"Nice shot."
His chest felt tight.
His gaze grew hazy.
"And before I forget, you don't get to call me by my name. If you would, kindly lose my number too."
But his mouth continued to spout reasons and words even when he knew that silence was the best course of action as of the moment. "You think I…" His lungs had a hard time getting more air when all he could smell was the burning corpse of his friend – a friend that was supposed to be alive, not burning down into ashes. Tears were threatening to fall, but he dared them not to.
Not now.
"You think I'm ever…gonna forgive myself for that?" He pathetically asked, daring Miyuki to say otherwise.
"You want to know what I think?" Miyuki spoke seemingly without a care, yet Sawamura could feel the underlying poison dripping dangerously. "I think it should be you up there, not him." He gestured with his jaw, the burning corpse above the woods they piled one after another.
Why did it hurt? Sawamura wondered as he locked his jaw tight, swallowing a massive lump in his throat. He was supposed to be used to all the hurtful words and snide remarks, accepting them as the truth that he outwardly denied (And heartfeltly agreed with deep inside).
He didn't know if the hallucinations or visions were back, but he swore he saw (and perhaps, felt) himself being burned too. Just that he was tied upright on a tall pile of woods slick with oil that was immediately consumed by fire, burning him like a witch.
"This thing about looking for a cure ends now."
Every person (Not precisely. He saw Haruichi smirking near a deserted alley just as he saw Furuya looking at him just like the way he said 'Sawamura Eijun, the boy with the demon blood.' on their first meeting) jeered as he heard himself scream from the fire licking his flesh black. Among them was a man with bright amber eyes crinkling in satisfaction, his lips quivering to hide a smile.
"Stop it now before somebody else gets hurt, you understand me?"
Sawamura's ears were ringing. His eyes were unfocused to reality as he watched the fire. How was it that it felt cold despite the massive fire burning flesh and wood? The thought of the cold sent chills down his spine as he was reminded of Devil, Mei. Because, as the devil said, despite what people think about him being sizzling hot, he was the opposite.
Thoughts of the devil and his blue, blue eyes started to haunt him again.
Miyuki seemed to have disregarded every single thing wrong about his partner anymore. Maybe, he just got too tired – too weary of everything Eijun.
"Eijun."
Sawamura flinched before lowering his head to cover his face with his hair. He could barely hear anything Miyuki said due to the constant jeer of the people, both hunters and civilians, and his raspy screams. He was starting to get crazy again.
"Promise me that you will stop this."
Miyuki was losing his patience; he noted before quietly nodding. He couldn't trust his voice not to break for his throat was quite tight no matter how hard he swallowed. He couldn't face his partner for his eyes were too glossy with unshed tears.
And unshed they should remain.
After all, who said monsters were allowed to cry?
A week after the death of their green-eyed friend, the bunker was a mess. The books were haphazardly piled with wet patches here and there. The furniture was tossed around broken and in pieces. But most of all, he could see three bodies lying on the floor, two of which were dead enemies, and the other was a beat up looking Furuya, blankly staring at the ceiling as if he had failed something. And maybe he did. Fail, that is.
Sawamura slowly approached the fallen angel with eyes still slightly unfocused. He instinctively felt for a pulse even when he knew that Furuya already got back what little was left of his grace. It wasn't until he touched the angel did he move to sit up on the floor, still bloodied and bruised as he faced Sawamura.
"Kazuya." The angel started, and Sawamura didn't need other words to understand what it meant.
Miyuki left them, and perhaps, for good.
"I know…" Sawamura took out a handkerchief from his jacket, gently wiping the blood from the angel's face. He could understand why his partner would want to hurt him, but Furuya? All the angel did were lined with good intentions. He fell from grace just to help Miyuki. He endured to so much for the sake of the humanity his Father created even when he knew his Father left. Furuya, he knew, cared more for Miyuki than he cared for Sawamura, himself (He wouldn't admit that he was hurt when he was the one praying to the heavens, and yet they still chose Miyuki who continued to deny them).
"Satoru…" Sawamura started, and the angel simply closed his eyes in pain, not physically, but emotionally. "We'll get through him, trust me."
Furuya opened his eyes to stare back at his dejectedly. Though small it may be, there seemed to be some hope lit up on them (A hope that, Sawamura wondered if it would be better to crush it now before it was soon crushed by his partner). He smiled sadly before tucking the handkerchief back into his pocket.
"Let's get Kazuya back," Furuya spoke as he stood up slowly, but more determined than ever.
Weeks have passed with false leads that continued to burn the hope out of them. Maybe more on Furuya's hope rather than Sawamura's because he never really had much hope, to begin with (He gave up long ago when Miyuki vanished after killing Ochiai; his mind just somehow finally caught up with what his body started to do when he did not try to find his partner).
But, of course, that didn't stop the nightmares of fire and amber eyes that would somehow appear to every man with a similar silhouette of his partner. God, he was losing it again. But this time, he wouldn't let anyone take the pain away.
Not anymore.
"Satoru." He whispered the prayer as he sat on the uncomfortable chair of the motel he knew Miyuki last stayed on.
The angel appeared in a soft rustling of feathers, his ocean blue eyes taking in the broken pieces of glass on the floor before catching Sawamura's tired eyes. He opened his mouth to say something but Sawamura beat him to it.
"Promise me something, won't you?" The words were spoken so softly that it was like he was just breathing out the words making him wonder if the angel heard him.
Furuya seemed to tense up as the words came out of Sawamura's mouth. His ocean blue eyes were guarded – prepared for anything wrong (Because nothing ever good comes out of their mouths nowadays). "What do you mean?"
A smile appeared on his lips.
Sawamura faced his partner who looked too solemn and calm for his own good as he spoke of things that were wrong – the being called Sawamura Eijun. Miyuki spoke of how he thought he could end their tragic cycle of life by ending his own life. But, no, he shook his head. After consulting with Ryousuke, commonly known as Death, their story could only finally end after killing Sawamura likened to how Cain's started after killing Abel (though, instead of being brothers, they were partners who knew too much about each other).
Sawamura merely tuned everything out after he got the gist of what Miyuki was saying. Instead, he drank every detail of the moment with his eyes concentrating on Miyuki. The way his hands clenched every time he said something he honestly did not want to do. The way his eyes were trying so hard to look as emotionless as they could even when Sawamura saw the fear and hesitation blinking into the surface from time to time. The way his feet would occasionally press harder on the third step of his pace, showing his forced control of the situation.
God, how he could quickly read his partner when he needed to (This was both a curse and a gift).
"Eijun."
They were finally nearing the resolution of their tragic story.
"Ka – Miyuki."
A resolution that may be brought upon in more than one way, depending on the choices Miyuki will decide on. Options, they may have, but try as they might, they still all led to one constant ending paved with different variables.
(And, for this story's end, he knew what the constant was).
Miyuki, slightly taken aback at how he was addressed, ordered for him to kneel down, and so he did. But he continued to look back at those amber eyes where he was reflected back (This time, there was no fire, just him). The scythe Ryousuke handed him glinted in the dark as Miyuki ordered him to close his eyes. Scratch that, Sawamura knew that order was closer to pleading. But he wanted to see him till his last moments.
Was that too much to ask for?
He never really knew what overcame him, but a tear left his eye like a rebel. God damn, did he want to wipe it and scratch his eyes out. Whoever said that he was allowed to fucking cry?
"Forgive me," Miyuki spoke, his voice finally breaking as he swung the weapon only to have it purposely miss him and impale Ryousuke.
There was silence for a moment before all hell broke loose. Ryousuke inhumanly howled and shrieked before turning into stone, and soon enough, into dust. However, that wasn't the problem. It was the way the cursed mark suddenly vanished from Miyuki's arm. The way ground started to shake as the skies could be heard crying out big fat drops of water and lightning.
Had Furuya done something?
Confused as they were, they knew they had to get the hell away from wherever they were at the moment. The car was already waiting outside, but the wind was too strong. The rain hurt their eyes and skin as it was harsher than any storm could be, instantly coating them with its cold embrace.
And, really, Sawamura knew what he had to do in these impossible-to-escape-by-human-means kinds of situations.
"Furuya!" He cried as thunder rumbled and lightning flashed.
This time, instead of appearing in soft rustles, the angel came with a roar of beating wings. Furuya took hold of both of them, ready to fly away. Only to stop, as if remembering something vital which really wasn't appreciated in crucial situations such as of the moment.
"Zap us out of here now, Satoru!" Miyuki cried as he strengthened his balance when another sharp gust of wind tried to knock them out of the ground.
Sawamura swore he saw the angel's eyes shown panic. Which wasn't a good sign, when he thought about it.
"I can't fly us three away at once!"
Oh.
"Satoru, take Miyuki and go." Sawamura immediately dislodged the angel's hand on his shoulder.
Miyuki's reaction was immediate too. "You've got to be –"
But Furuya was fast on the uptake. They were in no situation that they had the luxury to hesitate or argue. He gave Sawamura one look that said he'd be back in just a second or two, and that he'd just have to hold on till then.
"Promise me something, won't you?"
Then he was all alone, holding onto a wooden post that indeed wouldn't hold on much longer. The rain was still there, but along with it were tiny bits of ice that started to throw themselves like small pins on his skin.
"If there comes a time when you have to choose between Kazuya and me…"
When he already counted up to a full minute, he knew all hope was lost. Really, with what little grace Furuya had left and how recently he just got it back, it was unlikely that he would be able to fly one of them out without collapsing, let alone both of them.
"You know whom you'll have to pick."
Contrary to witches being burnt at the stake, he was holding onto a post all while being assaulted by all kinds of cold embracing him, freezing him – burning him. The devil didn't need to be greeted by him dying burnt black as charcoal. He had to be freezing, pale, yet never numb to the continuous icy pain. It's similar to the freezing touch of the devil as he sliced and choked him during their time together down on the deepest parts of hell. Together, they'd laugh as to how he thought he'd die from fire. How he thought he'd die at the hands of his partner. How he thought he'd die at the hands of an angel or a demon.
A smile graced his lips when he was greeted with a familiar and chilling voice.
"Welcome back, Eijun."
It's more of a plot deviation from Supernatural's (TV) season 10 episode 22 - prisoner, with characters suited to DnA.
-PauleenAnne