Author's Note: The second half of this chapter carries a warning for a whole helping heap of violence. Please read at your own discretion. Also, this is being posted on Saturday instead of the usual Sunday, because someone requested that it go up on their birthday. So happy birthday, nameless one. :)

Chapter 10:

Eurydice Rising

The windows were shuttered. The curtains were drawn. No light was allowed in. The concept of day was something that existed outside, out there. There was a world somewhere outside his darkened room, but Yu wasn't a part of it. Because the outside was for the living. And he was part of the dead. (Or nearly dead, anyway.) He existed, but that was all. It was the only thing he could do. So he lay there, a wraithlike thing in stasis, breathing shallowly beneath the covers. Curled into himself like a nautilus.

Let go of me let go of me let go of me! He had lost it earlier that morning, when the doctor had come in to examine him. It took both Kimizuki and Yoichi to hold him down. Took another one of those ugly metal syringes full of dull brown liquid, its silver tip glinting ominously in the light. Let go of me let go of me let go of me! The sight of that syringe had struck terror in him. Had caused him to thrash about like a mental patient. So they had held him down, not realizing that these very actions were what sent his already tormented mind tumbling right back into the middle of that nightmare. To the pain. To the darkness. To the endless violation. Back to those hands that held him down, blocking all hope of escape. Back to a hard, black line that was drawn across the border of his soul, delineating his charmed life of before from the broken thing he was now.

Let go of me let go of me let go of me! Images played and replayed, like the pages of a child's flip book. They still penetrated his drug hazed mind. Made him twitch with cell memory. Let go of me let go of me let go of me! The only bit of light inside this darkness, the only thing that held any sense of hope for him, was the memory of a distant figure. A figure dressed all in white. A figure, coming out of the gloom, calling to him from a lighted doorway. Yu-chan, can you hear me? It's me, Mika. In his delirium, he had called out to that distant figure, saying his name over and over again, until Yoichi was forced to shush him.

Mika!

Quiet, Yu. Mika is not here.

Mika!

Stop it, Yu. You're ranting again. It's because the laudanum is wearing off. I'll tell Guren; he'll bring the doctor back in.

No! Don't! Bring me Mika! Where is Mika?

Shhhhhhhhhh…

More syringes, more pain. And then: Nothing. Just a blackened void. His mind continued to float somewhere up above. He was detached from the broken shell of his body, a mercy he couldn't comprehend. He floated around like a lost balloon. So small and inconsequential. Mika, where are you? I can't find you! Mika! He tried to block out the thoughts. Block out the persistent memories. But they waited for him out in the dark. Waited like predators with glowing red eyes, with sharpened teeth. He whimpered in the darkness. No, don't come near! Suddenly, there was an intrusive rapping at the door, causing him to flinch.

He didn't answer the knock. He lay there in silence as the door swung on its unoiled hinges, protesting with a drawn out squeak! He heard footsteps cross the floor, approach his bed. Yu's heart began to hammer in his chest. He began to shake, the response both involuntary and vaguely humiliating. He heard the soft thunk of a metal tray as it was placed on his bedside table. He waited, shivering, for the steps to retreat towards the door. They didn't move. Instead, a voice began to speak:

"Yu, I know you don't want to talk about what happened. And I won't push you to speak of it, not until you're ready-"

But Guren didn't understand! He would never be ready! Never! He couldn't talk to him. Or Yoichi. Or Kimizuki. They couldn't begin to comprehend it. There was only one person he could talk to, one person who might understand it. But he was so far away; he might as well be in a different world.

"-but I just want you to know, I'm here for you. Whenever you're ready to talk. And I won't judge you for it, I swear, whatever it is-"

Liar! There has always been judgement here! Always! It was there, in his voice-in his eyes-on the day he chastised Yu for being seen out in public with Mika. Well, things were different now. Mika and Yu were brothers, after all. In more ways than one. Guren could not judge Mika and not judge Yu, too. Such hypocrisy could not stand. Not in Yu's mind.

"-I want you to feel like you can come to me, talk to me, about anything. Please, Yu, don't shut me out-"

That door was shut. It was too late to open it. Too late to go back now. There was no way back from this particular level of hell. From this kind of misery. Mika was right: This was hell and Ferid Bathory was the devil.

"-and don't blame yourself. It's important that you don't think this is your fault-"

Oh, but it was Yu's fault. It was definitely all his fault. He did something stupid and now he had to pay for it. And pay and pay and pay. But the thing that was even worse than the pain, even worse than the humiliation, was this: the look of pity on all their faces whenever they looked at him. Guren, Yoichi, Kimizuki. They all had that same look. And Yu couldn't imagine a time in the future when they didn't always look at him like that. Like he was some horrible, broken thing they had failed to fix. It was unbearable. Insurmountable. He couldn't stand it. It made him want to curl up in a ball and die…

"-I want you to stay strong, Yu. And remember these last words. If you want to ignore everything else I've said so far, then by all means, please do, only don't ignore this one thing-"

Yu rolled onto his side, a barely suppressed sob escaping his throat, tears blurring his vision into a cascading waterfall of nothingness.

"-just live."

Fireflies flashed and flew like random sparklers through the gloaming as Ferid Bathory walked up the steps to his Prytania Street mansion. He unlocked the front door and stepped inside, stopping only to hang his velvet riding cloak on a garish looking coat rack situated by the front door. He was making his way over to a large curving set of stairs when a flicker of light caught his attention from the corner of his eye, coming from the direction of the dining room. He turned, walking with cautious, quiet steps to the other side of the house, every muscle in his body tense and on alert. He saw a shimmering beam of light, spilling like a trail of molten honey across the hallway floor from the dining room's open French doors. Ferid rounded the corner and stopped just inside the doorway. A large candelabra, ablaze and flickering with at least a dozen white tapered candles, sat in the center of the massive cherrywood dining table. Sitting at the end of the table, his hooded face bathed in the dancing firelight, was Mikaela Hyakuya. His large blue eyes turned to stare at Ferid as he stepped through the door.

"Hello, Ferid," said Mika.

Ferid stepped cautiously forward. "Ah, Mika-chan," he said with his usual arrogant lilt. "What a nice surprise."

"Is it really a surprise?" asked Mika with an arched eyebrow. He uncrossed his legs and slid around in his chair to face Ferid.

Ferid stopped a few paces away, his stance wary. "Of course it is. Since you've always refused to come here in the past."

"But as you can see, I've changed my mind," said Mika evenly. The chair scraped the floor as Mika stood up and started walking towards Ferid. He was slightly surprised when Ferid took a step back from him, putting his back against the doorjamb. Mika smiled at him, but the smile didn't quite reach his eyes. "What's the matter, Ferid? Not happy to see me?"

"I don't know what game you're playing here, Mika, but I-"

Mika closed the space between them in an instant, covering Ferid's lips with his index finger. He leaned in close, whispering huskily next to the nobleman's ear: "I'm not playing any games. I'm way past all of that. But I'm really hurt you're not happy to see me, because I'm overjoyed to see you." Mika then turned his head and pressed his lips to the underside of Ferid's ear, allowing his breath to skim seductively over the sensitive shell of his earlobe. He felt the taller man shiver in response as he continued kissing along the column of his neck, whispering breathily into his ear: "Don't you remember all the good times we had, Ferid? We used to be so good together, once. Perhaps you need me to remind you just how good?" Mika allowed his hands to skim down the front of Ferid's chest as he slowly slipped down to his knees in front of him, his sapphire blue eyes shining up at the nobleman in blatant invitation, a sensuous half smile lingering on his face. Drawn in by that tempting look, as well as by the creeping, carefully stroking fingers that were currently working at his belt, Ferid reached down to cup the young boy's face in his hands, gently caressing his messy blond locks. "I see you've finally come to your senses," Ferid muttered to himself as he leisurely and blissfully tilted his back, enjoying the movement of the boy's hands and the sudden rush of warm air on his bare skin. The feelings of elation quickly evaporated as he felt an unexpected, painful sting in his right leg.

Ferid shoved Mika away from him. He fell back on the hardwood floor, his face staring up at Ferid with glittery eyed triumph. "What do you think you're doing, you manipulative little-" Ferid's sentence stopped short as he noticed the empty syringe sticking out of his thigh. He plucked the offending object from his flesh and flung it across the floor. "You little bitch," Ferid hissed, advancing on him.

Mika was already up and had his sword drawn. His eyes sparked with pure fury as he waited for Ferid to move in on him. "Come on, lover, don't you want to dance with me one more time?" he spat coldly as Ferid paused and drew his own sword.

"Stupid Mika-chan. You think you can beat me with your deceptive little tricks." Ferid swung his blade at Mika, who dodged around to the other side of the dining room table. Mika glared at Ferid through the golden haze of the candelabra. "Maybe I can," Mika said through gritted teeth. "If I level the playing field just a little bit more." With a swipe of his sword, Mika sent the candelabra flying, the lit candles falling and rolling over the shiny cherrywood surface like a set of flammable bowling pins. The silk table runner instantly went up in flames and a trail of fire began to lick its hot, shimmery tongue down the sides of the table. Ferid's eyes widened with genuine fear for the first time that night.

"You really have lost your mind," announced Ferid, his words slurring a bit as he moved around the table towards Mika.

Mika continued to smile at him coldly. "You're not leaving this house alive, Ferid. One way or another, you're a dead man." Enraged, Ferid flew at him, his blade barely missing him as Mika parried the attack. Steel clashed on steel as the table behind them went up in flames and the fire began to creep its way like a slow, persistent slug across the hardwood floors. Mika could tell the morphine was just starting to kick in, as it was interfering with Ferid's normally superior strength and reach. It made all his passes sloppy and slow. Mika, enraged beyond all reason, started bearing down on him, driving him back towards the hallway, pressing him back through the open French doors. Behind them, the whole dining room became engulfed in flames.

"You just couldn't fucking help yourself, could you?" hissed Mika in a low, angry voice. "You just had to do the one thing-take the one thing-that I couldn't live without. Well, I hope you're happy, Ferid, because you got me here, just where you wanted me-"

"-You crazy bitch. What do you mean to do, kill us both-"

"-and now you're as good as dead. You were dead the moment you laid hands on him. You pedophile, rapist piece of shit-"

"-If you don't stop this, you're going to bring this whole house down on both our heads-"

"-I don't care! You've pushed me way past caring! I hope it does come down on our fucking heads. I'll laugh as it happens!"

Ferid gave a final guttural roar and rushed at Mika. Their two swords connected, the metal glinting in the raging firelight, as Ferid pressed Mika back onto the stairs. Mika's hands trembled with the effort of keeping Ferid at bay, his back bent at an almost ninety degree angle as the nobleman pushed him down towards the floor. Ferid spat in his face over the top his blade:

"Like I said before, Mika. You're not strong enough to beat me. You've never been strong enough-" The words died instantly on Ferid's tongue as a crack of what sounded like thunder rang out. His eyes widened with surprise as he looked down to see the barrel of his own revolver jammed into his stomach. Blood cascaded out of the newly made wound, leaking over the pristine white of Mika's riding outfit, staining both it and the floor a dark, viscous red. Mika smiled up at him icily and said:

"I found the little trinket you left for me back at the house, lover. I have to say, it was the best present you ever gave me."

Ferid choked and listed forward, grabbing and holding onto Mika in a twisted parody of a lover's embrace. "You murderous little bitch," Ferid rasped by his ear before taking his sword and plunging it in Mika's side. Mika's head snapped back in agony, his eyes gone wide as Ferid laughed bitterly over him, bloodied spittle falling on his face. "Guess we're both not leaving this house, little jewel. It's so sweet of you, wanting to die in my arms like this."

"Get. Off. Of. Me." Mika twisted beneath Ferid, pushing against his weight, flailing in panic as the fire crept closer to the stairs. Ferid continued to stubbornly cling on to him, even as his life's blood leaked out over the floor, the stain spreading like a pair of shiny butterfly wings. Firelight danced over Mika's pale, sweat stained face, turning it a bright yellow-gold as he tried to crawl up the stairs, away from Bathory's grasp. He was covered in blood, both his and Bathory's, and the smoke was choking the air out of his lungs. Fire crept across the ceiling, dancing along the plaster, penetrating its surface with a threatening Crack! Pieces of the house started to fall as Mika collapsed back against the steps, his eyes staring blankly upwards as he felt his strength starting to leave him. "Yu-chan.." he said to himself, watching as the hypnotic, undulating trails of fire shimmied like individual fireflies across the ceiling overhead.

"Dying together. Like this. You and me…" Mika heard Ferid mutter into his stomach as his vision started to blur. Mika closed his eyes, and the last thing he heard was a loud crash as another piece of the ceiling detached and fell, the heavy plaster hitting the ground like lit shrapnel and exploding all around them...