Climbing down the emergency staircase should have gone smoothly, but let's not forget ourselves here. The city is just as ruined as most other cities, and thus, it's in shambles. The emergency ladder extended for a good few feet but abruptly snapped off as the building caved in to a huge hole where a plane had collided into the side, jutting out oddly.

Yuu didn't hesitate to leap onto the rusty surface of the plane, cringing as he began to slide before crouching and going with it, hopping onto a wing and finding a solid stance in some sort as the plane was angled in the opposite direction, he leaned on it for support as he looked around for an escape. The plane had exploded so most of it was in shambles, and with a blink and a grin Yuu darted forward and ducked inside of the plane's scorched insides, landing on a sideways seat and balancing at the odd angle. Through the back of the plane, he could see the rear end of the plane completely blown off and a clear slope descended to the crumbled stones of another collapsed building.

Once he exited the plane he was faced with a step and uneven decline on the jagged, fallen shards of the side of the building that had supported them first. He exhaled through his teeth before beginning the descent, hands gripping the rough and fracked jagged edges as he clambered down until he could see the ground nearing.

Growing he excited, he became too reckless, and with a sharp yelp came inches from missing the stone and falling backwards before reaching out and wrapping his hand against the stone. It cut into his palm painfully as he hoisted himself up, red blood lacing down his wrist. Breathing through his nose, Yuu tore off a part of his shirt and wrapped it around the small wound as a temporary fix before continuing the descent until he finally reached solid ground.

Perhaps the frightening part was the sheer amount of corpses in this town. There had been corpses at the Imperial Demon Army city and bones and such, but there were masses of them here, staring at him with lifeless eyes. He swallowed as he moved past them, following the direction Mika had gone. His eyes narrowed at he remembered the enemy he was about to face.

Vampires.

He hated them, all of them except Mika of course, and the thought of getting to shove his sword into their chests was all too tempting. Besides, there had been at least three, and while Mika had no problem holding him and taking down six Horsemen of John, the vampires were a different story. He was about to round a corner when a familiar voice stung his ears.

"Leave him out of this. It has nothing involving him."

...Mika?

"Silly Mikaela, of course it does! Isn't that the princess you're running away with?" The voice was unfamiliar but it was cool and poisonous. "Krul Tepes will be significantly displeased with your running away. Perhaps if we can get rid of the bait dangling in front of your nose, you wouldn't be as-" The man was interrupted by his own yelp, sounding pained, and Yuu nearly stepped forward before Mika spoke in a much quieter, more dangerous voice.

"Lay a finger on Yuu-chan," the blonde snarled, "and I'll slowly kill you."

"You seem rather protective of this human," the vampire rebutted, his voice a little nervous but Yuu could hear the smirk. "What is he to you?"

"What is he to me?" Mikaela laughed suddenly, but it was nothing like the kind chuckle that Yuu knew, it was cold and harsh and ended quickly. "I'll tell you exactly what he is before you get any crazy ideas. Yuuichirou Hyakuya is mine."

There was an eerie silence that settled over the group, including Yuu himself as he remained completely still, his breathing uneven and almost forced out of his chest. His? What the hell was that supposed to mean? Why would he say something like-

"And the lost puppy comes looking for its master," a feminine voice purred in his ear, causing Yuu to flinch and stiffen as fingers wrapped around his neck, closing and probing as they threatened to silence him. His hand twitched for Asuramaru, but before he could the woman's hand snatched his wrists and pinned them behind his back, her soft body pressing against his and trapping them there. He froze.

"I wonder," she purred silkily, gently touching her cold lips to his neck, "how our dear Mikaela-kun would react when he realized his family was ripped out from right under his nose?"

Yuu exhaled in a sharp hiss through his clenched teeth as she grazed his neck with her teeth, toying with him but not drawing blood. "L-Let me go," he protested weakly. He was thrown off guard by her comment, unsure how to respond- how would Mika behave? Would it crush him? He felt horrible being relied on so much, but it felt selfish to assume that. Yuuichirou Hyakuya is mine. He shuddered slightly and the woman let out a low hmm? of surprise at the action. If he could reach with his foot... just a little further...

The feeling of the woman teasing his throat with her teeth was unpleasant. Unlike with Mika, when she was inches from his throat he could only fear terror, whereas with Mika it had seemed both gentle and like an embrace. Now... he felt like prey. Her lips pressed to the base of his throat and he flinched, eyes narrowing as he gave a swift jab of his heel- and, yes.

The glass sprung into the air with the kick and he moved quickly, using his foot to smash down with his heel onto her toes and bringing his head back to collide his skull with her jaw as she pulled back in surprise and she cried out, releasing his hands to rub her jaw. He snapped his hand out and caught the glass with his bandaged hand, swinging it quickly and catching it along her throat which spurted blood.

While the injury was hardly permanent she let out a cry of shock and painless and it gave him just enough time to unsheathe Asuramaru and bring it through her chest with the sickening sound of flesh tearing around the green and silver blade before the demon rose up inside of the sword and consumed the woman. Her eyes widened with shock before she was reduced to nothing but a pile of slightly bloody clothes.

The sound of footsteps approaching rapidly behind him caught his attention and he whirled on his heel, prepared to reciprocate his previous action with an extended sword only for a blade to meet his own and shove Asuramaru's blade away like it was nothing. The man was tall and lean with hair the color of rust. He thrust the tip of his sword at Yuu's chest and easily knocked the boy over so the blade hovered at his throat.

"Too had I have to kill you without properly meeting you," the vampire crooned, and Yuu realized it was the man who had just been talking to Mika. "I'll make sure that it's as painless as possible. Mika-kun probably wouldn't be happy knowing I hurt his princess."

He raised the blade and for a moment his life flashed before his eyes. Mika. The other children. The Shinoa squad. Guren. He couldn't leave them behind even if they betrayed him, he at least needed to say goodbye... He wasn't ready to become just another corpse among the masses in the city, not ready to become old bones just like them. He still needed to do so many things. He stared at the raised red blade with a mixture of horror and fear as it swung in a blinding arc and descended straight for his chest, and he tensed and closed his eyes as he readied for it to plunge through his throat-

Hot blood sprayed his face and it caused his eyes to snap wide open as he tried to identify the dark shadow standing over him looking haggard and pained, his shirt and pants covered in blood and evidently filled with holes where he had been slashed through. Messy blonde hair spilled over a deep wound in his back and sticking through his chest, going right through his back, was the blood red blade of the vampire aiming at him. Thick blood splattered his face as he realized what was happening.

"MIKA!"

A/N awww yisss cliffhangers are great they give me motivation :3 double updates tonight because i have nothing better to do!