A/N - Oh dear readers, I'm sorry for leaving you for so long with that rough cliffy. I have to admit, that this chapter completely kicked my butt. Even when I had it 'finished' it still wasn't right and I had to go back do some seriously heavy editing.
But basically what happened is that what was supposed to be one chapter has morphed into what will be a three chapter mini-arc. Hopefully you guys enjoy the fruits of my writing getting completely out of hand!
The bloodletting hall rose from only a middle tier of the heights, yet there was no mistaking it for anywhere but the heart of the city. Delicate gothic windows swept high above the streets, and gargoyles glared down at those who would enter from among the flying buttresses and spires. In another world, perhaps the place would be a cathedral. But there was no comfort or religion to be had here. Only cold, impersonal light shone from these windows.
It was in the long shadows cast by the hall that a tiny figure paced. Mika's feet were starting to hurt, they really were, and there was an exhaustion settling into his bones which had more to it than an hour of nonstop motion. But it was much easier to concentrate on the feel of each step in his legs, or his newly numbing feet, than let his mind wander toward other thoughts. Occasionally, he would indulge and look at the tall doors. Sometimes, they would be shut, or sometimes there would be other children emerging from the building, but every time Yuu was not among them, he felt a tiny something drop inside him.
"Mika, aren't you getting tired? You should come sit with me." Mika paused to look back at Akane, who was sitting on one of the benches built into the wall of the bridge. Her face looked calm, but she had her knees pulled up to her chest and was holding tight to one of the blankets. The rest were in a large pile next to her.
He didn't want to sit still. All of the fear and the pain would come back as soon as he lost that distraction. He started walking again.
"Really, will you please stop pacing? You're making me even more nervous."
Mika stopped for longer this time so that he could look closer at Akane. Her calm façade was nearly as good as his cheerful one, but there was still a hint of anxiety underneath. He sighed, and moved to sit on the bench to her left. The cold came creeping across his skin, both the cold of the air and the cold of fear. He pulled a blanket from the pile and tucked it around himself. His blue eyes stared across the far side of the bridge, but he did not see the sweep of the city before him. Pinpricks of light from the lower city bellow the bridge up to the highest dwellings blurred into a field of fireflies before his vision.
The chill of the bench felt like a steadying force beneath his hands, and he pressed them firmly against the stone. He tried tapping his toes on the cobbles to break the silence of the bridge, but the sound was hollow, and swallowed by the immense space around them as soon as it was made.
That left far too much room to be filled by Mika's thoughts. Like children delving deeper into the maze of the city, they spiraled down darker and darker paths. What would their family do if Yuu died? He really didn't know. There would be something irreplaceable missing, a presence that resembled light itself, something they all drank in living in this underground world. It was a light that could blaze with strength and anger, but also be gentle and kind at times. Even when Yuu acted sullen or gloomy, his light was still there, just waiting for the right moment to show. No, that was not something so easily lost or replaced.
But, Mika was certain, that one day their family would recover from such a loss. He was not so sure about himself. Beyond his awareness, he gripped the blanket tighter about himself, the fabric pressing patterns into his palms.
Before that moment, doubtful of whether he would ever see Yuu again or not, Mika had never considered how much he relied on the other boy. Of course, there was the companionship of someone his own age, someone to share the burden of caring for their family, but Akane provided that as well. Mika felt completely at ease with Yuu in a way he sometimes didn't understand. To catch a glimpse of those green eyes, or a smile, or better yet to be the reason Yuu was smiling, never failed to remind him that there were good things in the world worth living for.
And what if he was about to lose it all?
From there, Mika's thoughts fell out of articulated words and dissolved into images and sensations. He pictured what it would be like to watch Yuu die, to hold him and try to calmly tell him that everything would be alright while the life slipped away. The words he could say tumbled about his head, choppy and unable to form themselves into full sentences. Mika's mind showed him the light going out in those green eyes, made him feel the cold of Yuu's lifeless body. Thought of how he could possibly say goodbye.
Mika hunched around his middle. His imagination had conjured such vivid images that he began to believe it was already reality.
"Mika?"
Akane's concerned voice snapped him back to the present. He tried to hold himself there, to look at the lights of the lower city below the bridge, to feel the weight of the blanket across his shoulders. For the moment, they still didn't know what would happen. It could still be alright. He took a deep breath and tried to make his voice sound normal as he said, "I'm okay. The waiting is just getting to me, that's all."
Akane scooted over on the bench and draped the blanket she had been holding over the both of them. Then she took his hand, and said, "I don't think that's it. What are you thinking about?"
"I don't want to say. It might make it real."
"You know that's not how things work. Talking about them doesn't make them reality, but it could make you feel better."
Mika was struck by her steadfastness in that moment, and regarded her with admiration, but mostly sadness. It was the first thought he had in hours that wasn't about Yuu, and he latched on tight. Her words sounded like something an adult would say. They were eleven years old. How should they know how things work, and why should she have to fill that role? They should be allowed to be irrational at this age, and overflow with any emotion, uninhibited by responsibility or the need to hold a family together. They shouldn't be required to sit with their backs straight and faces calm while the world crumbled around them, and hide the fact it was breaking them on the inside too. "Do you ever think that we're not kids anymore?"
Akane looked puzzled at the change of subject, and hesitated a moment before speaking. "I guess so."
"This place is taking it from us. Why did we have to lose our chance to be kids?" He had meant this topic as a way to distract from his thoughts of Yuu, to keep from breaking down. He could feel himself slipping anyway. "It's not fair. But I guess since we have to be mature now, I guess have to tell myself that life isn't fair. And this place will keep on taking, I think. It already might take…"
Akane squeezed his hand. "We don't know that yet, right?"
"But I keep seeing it happen in my head. I can imagine what it would be like to watch him die, gone through how I should say goodbye a million different ways." Mika gulped. "How do I begin to say goodbye?"
"You won't have to."
"How do you know?"
"I just know okay. So shut up and trust your sister on this."
Both of them were aware that there was no way they could know if Yuu would be alright, but for the moment it was comforting to say it. And so the two children sat side by side, leaning on each other, and feeling small before the cold, the things that were beyond their control, and a huge, towering city that was never intended for them.
If Mika hadn't been so focused on every motion from the direction of the door, it would have been easy to miss the moment when Yuu emerged. There was a large crowd of tired-looking children carefully making their way down the steps, and then there were two vampires dragging a figure between them with a shock of black hair. He was hanging limp in their grasp, and looked so much smaller and more fragile than Mika remembered.
"Is that…?" Mika barely registered the question from somewhere behind him; without realizing, he had stood as soon as he saw Yuu. And then, without answering Akane's question, he was weaving through the crowd. The overwhelming fear that he had attempted to stow away through most of the morning came crashing back in full force. He couldn't tell if Yuu was alive.
The two vampires dumped their burden at the top of the steps, and then dropped a nutrition pouch next to him. The fear melted into a shaky sort of relief just as quickly as it had come; Yuu must be alive if they were leaving a nutrition pouch. You still don't know if he'll survive, whispered the voice of doubt in his head, but he pushed it down by force of will. He was now close enough to see the contempt in the vampires' eyes. As he stumbled up the stairs, one caught sight of him. "You, livestock, are you this one's keeper?"
Mika stopped in his tracks, blinked and tried to form words. He really only needed to say one, but he was so overwhelmed by the morning's events that his voice wouldn't come. Everything in him was straining to go to Yuu, even though he knew he had to say something to this vampire or risk more trouble.
"Yes sir, we're from his household." Mika hadn't heard Akane come up behind him. He was grateful for her presence and cooler head.
"Make sure this brat doesn't cause any more trouble. Next time, it will be much worse for all of you." The vampire grinned, baring his fangs, before turning to go back inside. The doors shut with a hollow boom, and then the three children were left alone.
"Yuu!" Mika lurched up the last few steps, and knelt by his friend. A faint sliver of green peeked out from behind his eyelids, but what was visible was glassy and distant. Mika took Yuu's hand, feeling at his wrist for a pulse. He brought his other hand up to brush a few strands of black hair back from Yuu's face, and then cupped his cheek; it was cold, but he could feel a heartbeat under his fingers. It wasn't strong, but it was there and steady. He couldn't keep himself from slumping forward and gently touching their foreheads together.
Akane had knelt next to them and was looking on with concerned eyes. "How is he?" She asked.
"He's alive. Oh god, he's alive." Tears were forming at the corners of his eyes. He wanted to gather Yuu into his arms and never let go. A reaction which might get him punched if the subject of this wish was awake. Normally, he would do it anyway and not care if he got punched, but he was also worried that he might hurt Yuu if he tried to move him too much.
"Yuu, hey Yuu, wake up," Akane said, taking his other hand. "He's really cold. We need to get him somewhere warm."
"I know. But I don't know if we can carry him home ourselves, or if we should. What if he's hurt somehow and we make it worse? Can you bring the blankets up here instead?" He heard Akane clattering down the steps as he scrutinized Yuu for any sign of injury.
She returned a moment later with the pile. After some debate, the two of them gently shifted Yuu into an alcove a few feet away, so they wouldn't be in the way of traffic from the doors. They lay him down on a blanket to protect from the cold, with his head cradled in Mika's lap, and his feet elevated on Akane's. Mika claimed that this set up was so that Yuu's head wouldn't be resting on the hard ground, but in truth he couldn't bear to not be touching Yuu in some way.
The rest of the blankets were piled on top of Yuu, so that only his face showed above. This caused a moment of renewed worry when Mika couldn't see the rise and fall of Yuu's chest through the layers. He settled on resting his hand on Yuu's collarbone, so that he could still feel a pulse, and absently stroked his hair.
And then Mika let himself fall into a similar sort of trance as when he was pacing, filling his mind with sensations rather than worries of if Yuu would wake up. He focused on the weight of Yuu's head on his knees, the feeling of running his hand through the soft black strands. Time seemed to slow and count itself out by the heartbeat under his fingers.
Later, Akane said they waited perhaps half an hour. Mika remembered it as both infinitely longer than that, and over in an instant. Regardless of exact numbers, after a time, Yuu did open his eyes. He blinked up at blue eyes above him, which returned his fuzzy gaze with a joyful one.
"Mika?" Yuu's voice was rough, but Mika thought it was the most wonderful sound he had ever heard.
A/N - Still more to come, but at least we know he's alive and awake, right? Hugs for sticking with me through my brain's takeover of this story.
