What an asshole.
What a fucking asshole.
The horseman above him screamed again, a broken, warbling cry made to paralyze the humans below it. Yuu grit his teeth and studiously ignored it, giving it a retaliating blow in the form of a hard-handed swing to the leg, right where the insectile carapace of the thing bisected into a joint.
Blood sprayed from the open wound, a veritable fountainhead of vile, pressurized warmth, and Yuu scrambled to get out from under the thing as it screeched and stomped its good legs around, trying vainly to swipe at him from under its belly. He took a quick punish jab at the claw reaching for him; it did nothing but chip the creature's exoskeleton, but the horseman still flinched away, allowing him ample time to back away before it realized that he was no longer within crushing distance.
The hulking monster clicked its many teeth, dubiously-venomous saliva dribbling from its maw as it turned in a tight loop, showcasing how deadly it could be; not that Yuu wasn't already aware of how bad of a position he was currently in. It was facing him heads-on, it was relatively small for a horseman, and above all, it was fast. Technically, Yuu wasn't supposed to be fighting this thing on his own- but he was in the specifically foul mood one got when faced with a certain mix of worry, fear, and frustration, and both he and the squad knew he fought well when mad. Or, well, they already had their hands full enough with killing starving many-legged monstrosities to not be able to spare some help to him anyways. Mitsuba wasn't screaming at him to be careful, and Narumi hadn't hooked his trident in his shirt to pull him back yet, which was indicator enough that no one was paying attention to him.
Which was, quite frankly, perfectly fine with him. He was still trying to work over just how he felt about Mika giving him the old smooch- and- run.
"He kissed me!" He grumbled, waving his sword vaguely to punctuate his words; the horseman hissed, gross slash of a jaw undulating in warning, so he waved it again, this time directly at the monster. "He kissed me and then ran off before I even got a chance to kiss him back! Not to mention he took that fucking suicidal hero stance before abandoning me in the fucking car! What a fucking asshole!"
Another listener might have offered some condolences before trying to take his head off; the horseman, however, had no such whim, nor the slightest care about the romantic misfortunes of its prey. Once its slow lizard brain realized that Yuu wasn't immediately rushing to kill it, it decided to take the initiative, and charged him with a piercing, screaming howl that sent chills racing up and down Yuu's spine. He barely managed to dodge in time, feeling his heart race as the creature crashed past him like a charging bull, the wild raw beat of his alpha instincts in his head the only thing that pushed him up to his feet and shove his sword against its side to finish the damn thing.
Protect the pack. Find your mate. Kill those who dare to try to hurt them. They are family. They must not be harmed.
He bared his teeth, squared his shoulders, and tipped his head down, allowing himself some time to calm down before he looked around- and when he did, he was glad he decided to go for being defensive and territorial instead of trying to fight with a clear head. Listening to his gut served him well. He hadn't noticed just how well the horseman had managed to back him into a corner until now; he only had a few meters left between him and the wall of the supermarket, and, had the monster decided to charge, it would have made maneuvering out of the corner extremely difficult. He glanced away from his potential trap to eye the twitching, hissing carcass with disgust, watching as the thing's life poured out of the rent he tore in its side, and then turned away. That was just one down; there were at least four more to go. And Yuu hadn't caught a hint of Mika's scent or trail past the scattered, vampire-slashed limbs of another horseman's body that he must have left behind in his stupid attempt to keep everyone safe.
Reflexively, he pressed his fingers to his throat, right against the scent gland that Mika had rubbed against. His scentmark was still there, sweet and familiar against his skin; each time he scented his pheromones, butterflies fluttered in his chest. Mika had undoubtedly claimed him, made it clear that he saw Yuu as his. It was no wonder he was so riled up; Mika, instinctively or no, had shown that he was more than interested in courting him; asked him to, really. The alpha in his mind was more than ready to reciproced, and was none too pleased by his disappearance or the threat to his presence. According to the feral part of his brain, taking out all the competitors that could possibly hurt his partner- his omega- was the first step to winning him over.
But Yuu had long grown accustomed to his animalistic urges, and was able to push away the more emotional side of his rutting instincts in exchange for reason. He glanced around the parking lot, taking in the sight of the horsemen milling about trying to eat his squadmates; everybody seemed to be doing well enough for people technically outclassed by their opponents in everything except for speed and intelligence. He watched the battle, took note of whoever was closest to his position- Shinoa and Mitsuba, at the moment- and then made a beeline for them, trusting in Asuramaru's strength to give him the ability to duck and weave beneath the legs of whatever giant mutated lobster abominations decided to swipe at him next.
The girls were doing fine work bringing down the horseman they were fighting; already, two of its legs were severed at the joints, the stumps slicking the ground with blood, at least three others broken and dragging. Yuu picked his way around the sticky waste and flicked his sword clean, preparing to fight- but then Mitsuba let out a frustrated, enraged yell and slammed her blade into the ground, and the resulting beam of blue demon fire that shot from it cleaved the monster in two before he could take a swing.
Shinoa stepped back, breathing heavily; she hadn't noticed Yuu yet, too captivated with watching Mitsuba glare at her kill to spot him. Yuu caught her scent as he trotted closer- battle rage mixed with courting interest, and ducked his head, embarrassed, only just realizing that he'd walked into something. Shinoa glanced at him, gave him a quick, assertive look-over, and then walked over to where Mitsuba was pulling her blade out of the asphalt, pressing her fingers against the small of her back.
Mitsuba looked up at the touch, brow furrowed, and locked eyes with Yuu, tilting her head inquisitively. He glanced over at Shinoa, looking for her permission to come closer; though her eyes and scent were still battle-wild, she smiled at him without showing her canines, and so he sheathed his blade and strode over, confident now that he would not dick himself over too badly by barging in when he was not wanted.
"Yuu, did you take out that horseman by yourself?" Oh, wonderful. Mitsuba was frowning at him, lips pressed tightly together; he was in trouble. The wild look in her eyes and trickle of horseman blood running down her face did nothing to ease his anxiety. Shinoa took one look at his face and started snickering- now he wished she sent him away. Great. "You already know you're not supposed to fight on your own, no matter how many enemies they are or how easy they are to bring down. Do you realize how much trouble that we'd be in if you got hurt and-"
Fuck, he didn't have time for nitpicking.
"That doesn't matter! Mika's gone missing." Yuu blurted out. Mitsuba's frown of disapproval turned to one of consternation, Shinoa's teasing smirk fading to a grim, tight line. Yuu looked back and forth between them, feeling a hint of hysteria well up as he saw how unhappy the both of them looked; if they hadn't noticed him gone, that didn't bode well for his search. "Have you seen him? He ran off on me when I was trying to calm him down- he's in no condition to fight right now. I need to get to him before he fucks himself up any more than he already has, and fast."
"...Anymore than he already has?" Mitsuba looked queasy; Yuu felt a brief flash of appreciation for her concern, one that was quickly covered up once he realized that no matter how sweet it was that she cared for his first family, it wouldn't help him find Mika. "But Yuu, I thought you said he had enough blood to be okay."
"He didn't. He lied, because he's a self-sacrificing dumbass like that." Yuu quickly flashed through his memories, tried to remember how much blood Mika had taken. A half a vial at most, not nearly enough to satiate a vampire- and he hadn't let him see just how much he had left in the satchel. He'd thought he just did that because he was uncomfortable with drinking in front of him; but now that he thought about it, really thought about it, it quickly became clear to him that Mika would never, never choose the possibility to be dangerous instead of just uncomfortable, and that the way he'd held his satchel away from Yuu had been deliberate.
What little irritation he had left disappeared, crushed by the heavy weight of fear. He knew exactly what it meant when Mika hid something from him.
"Oh, god." He clutched at his hair, not minding the splatters of blood on his hands, too worried to mind about them drying it into awkward spikes. His own fear-scent soured the air the air, sharp against the cloying scent of dying things; Mitsuba stiffened and took a reflexive step forward, but he weaved away from her, recoiling from her touch. Behind her, Shinoa's face turned calculative, then blank- no doubt she had just come to the same conclusion he had, and it wasn't something that she liked very much. "He doesn't have any blood left. That's why he didn't drink as much- he wasn't trying to be polite, he was starving." He glanced between the two of them, wild with worry- all of them knew what happened to those who starved. "And he's going to fight horsemen while- oh god, I was fucking blind."
I can't lose him again. I can't. If I do, I don't know...I don't know…
"Yuu, calm down. Listen to me." Shinoa stepped forward, grabbing his shoulder to pull him down to her level. The strong smell of blood and alpha musk helped snap him back into focus; he hadn't realized just how fast he'd been breathing until he noticed his chest aching, his vision spinning. Behind them, another horseman screamed, joints clicking as it tried and failed to dodge a vivid green bolt of fire, and that too grounded him; he was in a battlefield. He had no time to panic. To panic was to face death, and he couldn't die now- not while Mika still needed him. "Mika should be fine. I've seen vampires that haven't drinken anything in weeks still be able to fight viciously enough to snap a soldier's arm clean off, and he at least had some blood before ran away, right?" Yuu nodded, breathing slowing, and Shinoa let out an audible sigh of relief, a tight, tired smile quirking her lips. "There you go. As long as he doesn't get too badly injured, he won't be in any immediate danger. And then we can discuss how to get him some more blood together, as a group; I know it's going to be hard to convince him. Maybe if we all try, he'll listen" She glanced away uneasily after she said that, biting her lip- neither of them wanted to acknowledge what that might entail. Yuu silently made the decision to be the one to offer up his blood first; he was the only one who'd be able to force Mika to drink if he disagreed with the decision, as he knew he would, and there was no plausible way to get him anything safe to drink that wasn't human. "Mitsu, did you..?"
"I didn't see him fight. He's a vampire, he's too damn quick, and I was a bit busy trying to ensure that you wouldn't get eaten to worry about him." Mitsuba swung her axe up over her shoulder, fingers drumming a nervous beat on the handle, and yet her gaze was steady and sure as she locked eyes with Yuu, her mild beta scent calming him, forcing him to listen to her reasoning. "But I did hear him, and see his spoils. He fought off some of the bigger ones before they managed to get too close to us, then ran off, angling to the left." She swept a hand out to gesture to somewhere deeper within the city- somewhere that would be a veritable arena for a vampire to fight in, but hell for a normal soldier, demon-possessed and all. "The horsemen around here are starving. They hadn't had a meal in ages; any that are close enough to know we're here are coming to try to take a bite. I bet he knew that, and decided to go take on the stragglers before we could be worn out and overwhelmed battling the ones that showed up."
Yuu swore- Mitsuba's logic was sound, and helped ground him, but he wasn't too pleased by the knowledge that he'd headed into the city. Mika was a cunning expert in hiding himself, difficult to find even when Yuu knew where to look, and suicidal enough to throw himself to the hoards without caring about the consequences. He could easily handle the smaller horsemen, yes- but he could have just as easily managed to wind himself up into an area infested with them injured and alone, a possibility Yuu didn't like to consider.
"You saw him go into the city? Are you sure?" He swept his gaze between the two of them, incredulous; both of them remained tight-lipped and grim, too serious to be anything but sure, and he growled, his protective instincts surging to the forefront again. Asuramaru stirred in the back of his mind, extended a claw-tipped hand for him to take, and he accepted it, letting the rush of demon power surge in his veins, magical energy sweeping away what tendrils of tiredness still clung to him post-battle. Shinoa frowned, stepping forward as if to catch his arm; he took a quick hop-step back, burning with energy, not wanting to be held down, not sure what would happen if he did.
"I need to go after him. And I need you two to not come along." Shinoa froze in place, eyes widening, and Mitsuba shouted something in alarm- but Yuu didn't stop to listen. He swept his gaze over them, asserting himself with a stance and a look; they quieted, albeit very reluctantly, not wanting to push a panicked alpha. Their submission calmed him in turn, and he softened his voice, letting his own unhappiness with the current situation show in his scent and posture to let them know he understood, and was not shunning them. "I know, I know, I'm sorry. But Mika isn't feeling all that well"- a major understatement- "and he hates showing weakness even when he's around me, who he knows will help him. If I take you two along, he'll only hide it more, and it'll end up with him having a real bitch of a breakdown later. I can't risk that happening."
Mitsuba glanced at Shinoa, wordlessly asking her for her advice; Yuu was respected enough, but he was technically her subordinate in experience. Yuu bit his lip to cut off his whine of impatience, but didn't have long to wait. Shinoa looked directly back at her instead of trying to challenge him, tilting her head thoughtfully, and then nodded slowly and looked back at Yuu, their silent communion complete. "We understand. But Yuu?" Shinoa stepped forward, squaring her shoulders assertively; Yuu tensed, worried that she would try to pull her dominance over him, but all she did was place a hand on his shoulder and look at him grimly. "Be safe. You know Mika better than I ever would, but if he's running from you, then there must be something out there that's scared him. And both you and I know just how dangerous an omega can be when scared- let alone one imbued with vampire instincts."
Yuu stared at her, voice locked in his throat. He didn't have to ask what she meant. He didn't have to tell her just how scared he really was, just how horrible it had felt when he had realized that the kiss Mika had given him was most likely intended to be a final farewell; as much as they bickered, as much as he tried to undermine her authority, he knew that she knew when he was vulnerable. And he knew, that no matter how much she would pretend to act on it sometimes, she would never use it to harm him. He didn't know much about Shinoa Hiiragi- her past, her motivations, what made and broke her- but he did know that she was loyal, honest, and steadfast until the very end.
He just didn't know if she knew him well enough to read the torment that was no doubt shining clear in his eyes.
He kissed me. He kissed me, and ran, but only because he thought that he would never come back, not just because he was scared of what I might think.
He probably should say something about it- something to ease the worry building on his chest- but all he managed was a nod. Shinoa squeezed his shoulder, one final act of reassurance, and then stepped away, swirling her scythe out to leap back into battle anew.
Yuu didn't watch her go. He turned to the city, to where the corpses of the horsemen Mika killed still steamed, and took off running, following the trail of death and gore that he had left behind.
.
.
.
Blood. He needed human blood.
Mika dragged himself into the shadow of a building's doorway, breath coming in wet, ragged pants, mind clouded with thirst. His chest and entire right side was sticky with his own blood, and throbbed with pain; a horseman had managed to snag a lucky blow on him when he was fighting another one of their kin, and then another had come in and stabbed him when he was down, and then another- his eyes rolled up into his head, and he shuddered all over, weak from pain and desperation. His veins burned, like sand was moving through them instead of liquid, his head light, body thrumming and tingling with a nervous kind of energy that felt like it would pull him apart at any second. Reasoning was dwindling, and fast; there was an animal in his head, filling his mind with desperation, blocking out everything but feel of the fire in his side and the dry, aching thirst raging in his throat.
What little humanity he had left was screaming at him, full of fear and self-loathing. Pick yourself up, finish yourself off, you're going feral- but when he weakly moved his hand to his side to grab the hilt of his sword, he found only empty space. Trying to scrounge for memories didn't help; he didn't know where it was. Gone, maybe for good. Probably not. His blade had been forged and fused with his blood; he'd heard legends that would disintegrate when he died, find him if he didn't, but he hadn't been around enough other progenitors with first-class weapons to know if those legend were true. Most likely it was just a few paces away, hidden under an obstacle that tricked his starved mind into thinking it was lost. It was hard to think after all, when all you wanted was the sweet, rich taste of human blood.
Mika swallowed hard against the pain and dug his claws into his fist, using the sudden sparks of pain to ground him.
Either way, it wasn't here, and he didn't know if he had enough energy to try to double back and find it. The wound on his side still wept red tears, raw and open; he wasn't healing, and there was an ominous burn radiating out from it that told him it was fatal without blood. He would die here, in this small dark building he dragged himself into, slow and broken and alone.
Frustration filled him: frustration at the bloodlust, frustration at his injuries, frustration at himself for losing his sword, for not being able to die a human death. He flicked his tongue over his dry lips, and hissed like the monster that was slowly consuming him, letting his anger and hatred and disappointment crash over him like a wave. He hadn't managed to kill all the horsemen; his humans would be killed. He hadn't managed to save Yuu. He hadn't even been able to take him far enough out of the JIDA's clutches for him to be free for any more than a few weeks at best- that was only delaying the inevitable, and the black demons that controlled the human army were hardly known to be merciful to their prey. And now, he was here, bleeding out at the claw of a fucking horseman, of all creatures, and he didn't even have the decency to finish himself off.
Slowly, surely, the anger died away, replaced by a numbness that might have terrified him, had he not been so exhausted and used to it already. There was no other option left to him than to wait-wait until he bled out, wait until he burned himself out trying to heal a wound he didnt have the energy or blood to do. Mika coughed hard, paying no mind to the flecks of blood that splattered the floor in front of him, then dragged himself off to curl up in a darkened corner with a soft whine of pain.
He had nothing left to give.
.
.
.
The longer the trail persisted, the more worried Yuu got.
Following it was relatively easy; fighting horseman was a hard messy deal, given the size, strength, and sheer amount of blood the creatures had, but for all their bluster, the path of destruction they left was a relatively linear one. Horsemen relied heavily on charge attacks to frighten their prey and to close distance quickly, and while they were good at that, they were not altogether good at stopping, or turning quickly. All Yuu had to do to know where Mika went was to follow the trails of blood and freshly-broken buildings, the only splitting points in the trail the spots where the horseman's body lay and a new spread of blood viscera, and property damage started.
Try as he might, he couldn't capture Mika's scent amidst the reek of freshly-dead bodies. Most likely, he had traveled by leaping to and from the backs of horseman and the buildings surrounding them, like any normal vampire would, but knowing that did nothing to calm his alpha instincts, screaming at him to find his pack to find his mate before something worse found him first. In the back of his mind, Asuramaru paced, like a wolf hungry for the hunt; this, too, only served to fuel his anxiety, the anticipatory thrum coming off the demon filling his veins with nervous energy.
The horsemen themselves were not nearly as many as they had seemed from a distance- fear always made enemies seem more numerous- but the length of the battles that had taken place before they fell set him on edge. He knew how insanely strong Mika was; he had seen how easily vampires weaker than he dispatched horsemen, and he'd personally seen him take on stronger, quicker, more intelligent enemies like Guren, his squad, and Ferid's noble follower as if they were nothing. The stretch of blood and carnage should not be nearly as long as it was.
An advertising pillar for a shopping mall had fallen, bisecting the road; beyond it, Yuu could see the corpse of a massive horseman, split-open hide still steaming with the dissipating remains of the creature's body heat. Yuu's gaze sharpened, nostrils flaring to catch a familiar scent purely by instinct; he didn't find anything beneath the stench of death, but it didn't matter to him anyways. That kill was fresh- he knew it, the stirring alpha within him knew it, the demon stalking his mind knew it. And where there was a fresh-kill, there was a Mika.
He leapt up, grabbing onto the edge of the concrete block, and hauled himself up with a grunt of effort- Asuramaru refused to help him in menial tasks, no matter how small or how urgent the context was- and slowly stood up, careful to not lose his balance. From here, he could see the corpse of the horseman, a massive creature spilling equally massive guts out onto the cracked road. Beside it lay another horseman much smaller than its companion, legs still twitching weakly in its death throes- and, Yuu noticed with a flare of panic, bloodied across its grasping tendrils in a way that couldn't have come from itself.
He leapt off the pillar, barely noticing the skin being sheared off his palms by the rubble when he stumbled the landing, and ran over, a high, pained whine sounding in his chest. This close to the monster, he could see that the spasms that wracked it were nothing more than post-death tremors, but that did nothing to calm the fear surging through him. He did not fear being grasped and rent to pieces by a creature caught in the desperation of dying; he feared the evidence of what he might find on its claws.
And that fear was confirmed the second he could get close enough to scent the bloodstains coating them. The splatters themselves were ominous enough- the horseman couldn't have gotten itself that bloody unless it stabbed itself- but the scent of the blood on it sealed the deal. It didn't have the same heavy, old-copper reek of the horseman blood that surrounded it; instead, it was the musky, ashy scent of vampire blood, tinged with something vaguely reminiscent of a human's. It was a scent that Yuu had smelled before in battle, far too many times than he would have liked, something that he never wanted to smell ever again.
Mika.
Panic hit him hard, send him reeling; he took a hard breath in, choked on it, tried not to hyperventilate as terror rose in his throat like bile. That was a lot of blood to lose... and Mika was already starving, and starving vampires didn't-
"Mika!" Yuu turned in a circle, listening hard for a cry back, looking for a spot of movement, anything. Nothing came. "Mika!"
Again, no answer. Tears stung his eyes, and he forced them back, along with the rising images of a small, dying child in his arms, looking up at him with frightened blue eyes. Not again. Never again. He couldn't bear to live if it happened again- coming back the first time was hard enough, he didn't see how he could survive if Mika died again. This time, when he called out, his voice broke, the sharp, high pitch of it reminiscent of when he'd screamed to Sanguinem's false skies. "Mika, dammit, if you're still alive, answer me! Give me a call, a sign, anything!"
He stopped, listened with bated breath; no sound came but the rush of the wind through the ruins, and he would have probably done something reckless and stupid if Asuramaru didn't surge to the forefront of his mind and pin down his emotions before they lead him into ruin. Yuu hissed, shaking his head from the whiplash of going from panicked agony to sudden numbness, but Asuramaru didn't let up- instead, he seized onto Yuu's mind with a vicelike grip, forcing him to see the world through a demon's eyes.
Every scent sharpened, every emotion dulled, anxious alpha instincts replaced with the alert, predatory instincts of a demon. Yuu could still feel his original self writhing below the surface of Asuramaru's control, like whatever he had been feeling beforehand had been trapped in a bubble, but everytime he reached out to pop it, the coil of Asuramaru's control wound tighter.
Stop, he hissed. Shadows flickered at the edge of Yuu's vision, manifesting into the form of a lithe young boy sporting a fierce, fanged frown whenever he didn't look directly at them. Listen. Your love for Mika is blinding your common sense. Use your head instead of your heart, and maybe you'll find him before it's too late.
"Before it's too late?" Yuu echoed; he probably would have panicked again, if Asuramaru hadn't stomped hard enough on his heart to nearly give him whiplash. "What's happening? How do you know what's going on?"
The shadow in the corner facepalmed. Yuu, you fucking idiot, you know well enough that I share your mind as well as your body. I see what you see, smell what you smell. But you can't see into my mind like I can into yours- and thank the Fallen for that- otherwise you'd already know why I know what's going on. I know the scent of a starving vampire, Yuu, even though you don't. You haven't been around enough vampires to pick up on their pheromones. I do. I used to be a vampire, remember? Asuramaru stuck out his fangs, flicked his tongue over their sharp points. I know what starving smells like. In fact, it was my second death. Mikaela may not be a full vampire yet, but he has enough of their pheromones for me to be able to distinguish them, even through your untrained human nose. And I can tell you that he doesn't have much time left. Yuu took a shaky breath, and Asuramaru's eyes narrowed. No. Don't feel, think. You know that blood is his, right? And I know that if he's that badly starved, the chance that his wound fully healed is slim, and he won't be thinking properly enough to staunch it. Now look at the bloodstain again. Look for the trails he might have left. He's sure to have continued bleeding; find his trail, and follow it. Hunt.
Asuramaru's form dissipated. Yuu released a breath he didn't know he was holding as he felt his control lessen, though he could tell that the demon was still vigilant. The panic came rushing back, as well as the fear, but this time, with it came something that had been hidden under his worry: sheer, stubborn determination.
Mika wasn't gone yet. He hadn't lost him. He could still save him.
He looked again at the blood covering the horseman's claws; it was almost fully congealed, but there was still a slight stickiness to it that indicated that whenever Mika had been injured, it hadn't been long ago. He couldn't have gone far.
He backed up and began to circle, trying to get away from the horseman's blood pool. It was difficult- the monsters bled a lot- but eventually he spotted a splotch of blood that was far enough away from the corpse for it to have probably not come from the battle.
He walked up to it, and spotted another. And then another, and another- Asuramaru had been right. Mika had been injured enough to leave a trail of blood.
An angry growl rent the air, and it took him a few tense seconds to figure out it was him who was snarling. His instincts surged; he was still afraid and upset, but now that he had even more explicit proof of Mika being badly injured, he was angry. The alpha within him was roaring, protectiveness surging to the forefront of his mind; he wanted to slaughter whatever hurt him, rush to his side, and tend to him, keeping him safely hidden away until all his wounds had healed and he was strong enough to stand by his side again.
But the creatures that had hurt him were already dead, and what waited ahead of him could be far more dangerous than an ordinary horseman. Just to be safe, he unsheathed Asuramaru; he had no interest in using the blade, but the weight of it was reassuring, and the demon glow served as a good knew Mika; he knew that while Mika did not care much about his safety, he wouldn't leave a trail of his own blood unless he wasn't thinking clearly.
A flash of memory struck him; the image of Mika stalking after a child, eyes feral, movements jerky, predatory. He had been thirsty then- just how bad would he be now, injured and trapped on the verge of death?
No. Not death. Mika won't die. He can't.
His hands trembled on the hilt of his sword, but he took a deep breath and kept going. The trail was erratic, sometimes marked by bloody handprints instead of normal splatters, but he kept his head and still went on. The scent of fear and sadness was sharp in his nose, mixed in with the mingled smell of blood to the point where he could no longer tell whether it was his, or some marker that Mika had left behind.
To his relief, the trail didn't go very far. One second, he was scanning the ground for another mark, and the next second, he found himself shoving his way through the dark, half-collapsed ruin of some building's doorway, urged on by instinct and the guiding hiss of Asuramaru's 'there, there' in his head. The logical part of his mind screamed at him to back out, to scan the area in front of him for traps, for some indicator that Mika was here, but that part shut down quickly once he slipped into the room and was hit by the quiet, rasping sound of someone's heavy breathing.
The area- whatever it was- stank of blood and fear, a horribly fresh contrast to the older undercurrent of dust and mildew. Yuu recoiled, his hackles raising at the smell of it, and took a cautious breath in, trying to distinguish Mika's mark under the stench of everything around him.
And he found it. Once the shock from the scent of gore and rot passed, he could begin to tell the horseman and vampire blood apart- and how, despite the way the horseman's taint disguised Mika's mark and the smell of his blood, there was a noticeably larger amount of it than there was of the creatures he had slain.
With his heart in his throat and the tingle of demon magic in his veins, he crept forward, closer to the sound of the breathing. All his alpha instincts screamed at him to jump forward, to cover and covet the injured omega he knew lay before him- but his fear and memories screamed back at them, reminding him of where he was, of just how dangerous a starving, injured vampire could be.
"...Mika?" he called out, hoping beyond hope that there was still some reason left in the person before him. The sound of breathing stopped. Yuu flinched, trying to seek out Mika's familiar silhouette, but his eyes were still adjusting, and in the dim light of the room around him, he couldn't distinguish one dark shape from another. "Mika, if you can hear me, please-"
A low, grating growl and the sound of fabric flapping through the air was the only warning Yuu had before something heavy and wet with blood slammed into him, knocking him to the ground. All the air rushed out of his lungs as he hit the floor, hard, his head spinning with the impact; it was only thanks to Asuramaru's quick reflexes that brought his sword up to block as a clawed hand swung downwards to pin him down, the horrifying screech of talons on metal howling through the air. The rasping, gurgling growl turned desperate; Yuu had to hurriedly turn the sharpened edge of his sword towards himself as Mika (oh no, Mika!) lurched forward and tried to snap at his exposed throat over the blade, the pale, glimmering glint of fangs in the sickly green light the only thing he could see of his family's (best friend? Lover's?) face before he had to lurch backwards to pant raggedly for breath.
"Mika! Are you okay?" Yuu tried to sit up, struggling to put Asuramaru away- he didn't need Mika any more injured than he already was- but he didn't make it very far before Mika's hand closed on his throat, forcing him back down to the ground. Yuu shut his eyes tight, wincing as the pain from his head injury returned, and shoved at his chest, trying to hold his omega back as he descended again, jaws snapping, the hand not keeping him down doing its best to pull his collar open. The surge of adrenaline he experienced at the sight convinced Asuramaru to help along with his vision adjusting.
The sight he saw wasn't pretty. Mika's pupils were mere slits in the pale circle of his irises, his face splattered with blood, the hair on the left side of his face glued to his cheek with it. His snarl was a grimace of pain and pure, feral desperation, baring four long fangs slick with a mix of venom and vampire blood- Mika had bitten through his own tongue at some point, and the wound hadn't closed, bloodying his fangs. He didn't look like a person- he looked like an animal. Yuu's stomach dropped again, whatever little hope he had left shriveling away. Mika looked too far gone, lost in his bloodlust and desperate, instinctual attempts to save himself. He slid a hand up to his throat, pressing against the scent glands there, working to try to soothe him, to bring the person he loved back from the brink of his own raw, all-consuming hunger. "Mika! Speak to me!"
"Stop…stop it." What was left ofMika's voice was naught but a gutteral rasp in his throat. He shook his head out of Yuu's grasp, weaving back and forth with the motion, and tipped the alpha's head back, baring his throat. This time, when his heart skipped a beat, it was for an entirely different reason, one that he valiantly decided to ignore. "Be quiet. It hurts. It hurts." He crouched down again, limbs trembling with the motion, and this time, when he bared his teeth, it was a snarl of misery. Yuu couldn't see any trace of humanity in those blue, blue eyes- only fear, and hunger, and pain, the thin slits of his pupils highlighting the monster controlling his mind. "It hurts, it hurts, it hurts! I need blood, I need blood right now, I need to make it stop! Be quiet, be quiet, be quiet, it hurts too much, it hurts too much when I talk. I just need to drink. Only a little. Only a little bit will make it stop." He leaned down, took a closer look at him, and Yuu flinched on instinct, one hand coming up to Mika's throat to push his head away, and Mika whimpered, high-pitched and almost human, a quiet, wretched cry for help that shook him down to the very bones.
Yuu looked at him- looked at the blood splattered over him, at the weakness trembling in his limbs- and realized, with a sickening sort of lurch, that despite the fact that he was still strong enough to keep him down, Mika was only just barely hanging on. There was no vampire blood around he could use to heal him- if that would heal him at all, if there was the slightest chance in the world that something so old, so diluted, could help save him. He knew Mika would rather die than to fully become a vampire; but then he thought of the gaping, horrible lonlieness and pain he felt when Mika was away, the terror of losing someone else that he loved, and he looked at the agony in Mika's eyes, and he thought, not again.
Not again. Never again. Not when I can help it.
He sighed, sad but resolute, and let go.
The vampire above him let out a hiss of surprise as the resistance he was pushing against disappeared, but Yuu didn't give him enough time to recover. Instead, he tangled a hand in Mika's hair, pressed him down until he felt his panting breaths puff against his skin, and tipped his head back, exposing his throat.
"It's okay, Mika." He stroked a hand over the scruff of his neck, rubbing his palm over Mika's scent glands again, just as he knew he liked it. The tension melting out of Mika was palatable; even though he was almost entirely lost to the vampire at the moment, there was still the slightest scrap of him left in there, finally within reach, now that he wasn't trying to fight for control. Yuu smiled sadly, crooned softly at him and closed his eyes, bracing himself for the pain of the puncture. The cool wash of Mika's breath tickled his neck, and he shivered inadvertently; having Mika's teeth close to his throat was exciting for an entirely different reason, even though he knew no bonding would actually happen outside of the mating season, even though he knew that this was far from a claiming bite. "Don't you remember? You're not a monster. You'll never hurt me. I told you that love you unconditionally, and I do. Even now, I'm not afraid. I'll never be afraid of you, Mika."
Mika's fangs were cool when he pressed them against his throat, but he didn't bite- he seemed frozen, confused. Yuu pressed him closer against him, thinking that he just needed a little more encouragement- but then Mika jerked in his arms and lurched away, whimpering as if he'd been struck. Yuu's eyes flew open, alarmed at the pullback, and was met with Mika's terrified gaze as he scrambled back, clamping his hand over his mouth like he was about to throw up.
"Mika!" Yuu gasped, scrambling up to stop his retreat- but that only made Mika backtrack faster, limping, until he finally tripped, slammed into a table, and knocked a lamp over. The shattering sound it made when it hit the floor startled him, and he whipped around, a horrible, sobbing scream tearing out of his lungs; his scent flared in the air, sour with fear and revulsion. Blood leaked out from a massive tear on his uniform; there was a terrible look on his face, caught somewhere between being on the verge of tears and agony, somewhere between panic and self-loathing. Yuu hadn't seen him nearly so upset, so terrified, since the day he fled Sanguinem- a memory that did nothing to help calm him down.
"Mika! Listen to me!" The vampire's head whipped around, pupils contracting again as he looked at him, and he trembled like a leaf in the wind, clapping his other hand over his mouth as a fit of horrible, wet coughing wracked him. Yuu lunged forward, arms outstretched to try to help him; but Mika flinched away, taking his hands away from his mouth as he wheezed for air. Yuu watched with horror as fresh blood slowly leaked out from between his fingers, staining the already torn, bloodied cloth; Mika glanced down at the wetness coating his hands, gasping for breath, but didn't seem either surprised or scared by what he found there, a reaction that scared Yuu senseless, even as he tried to keep calm for his omega's sake. "Mika, you're not okay, I was just trying to help. Talk to me, please- is there any way I can help you? Any way at all?" The vampire shivered, looked away; Yuu stopped staying calm very, very quickly. "Mika! Answer me!"
Mika flinched, glanced at Yuu for a split second, glanced away. "My sword. Give me my sword." He looked around the room with wild eyes, still trying to back away, as if Yuu was the dangerous one, not him. It hurt for a split second, before Yuu realized that he was most likely only scared of himself, and then it hurt even more. "I need my sword. Quickly, please. Now. Before I hurt you." He scrunched his face up as if in pain, running his tongue over his teeth, then turned and spat bloody venom into the ruins of the vase. His claws were still out, flexing against his thighs, as if he was one step away from tearing into his own flesh to to try to relieve himself of his own thirst. The stench of starvation and death was stronger, a simmering reek that Yuu never, ever wanted to scent again. "Yuu. Please."
"I don't have your sword," Yuu said slowly, confused beyond measure; and then the all-too familiar pieces began to fall into place, and his stomach dropped, nausea and horror filling its place. He stared at Mika- at the frightened, miserable tears in his eyes, at the way he clawed at himself rather than making any attempt to staunch his wounds, at the way he was afraid of hurting Yuu instead of his own health- and thought that he might throw up. This wasn't happening. This could not possibly be happening. But it was, and he knew it, and he couldn't keep the hysterical shake out of his voice as he asked, quietly, terribly: "Mika. What do you plan to do with your sword?"
Mika flinched as if struck, lowering his head in shame. It was a look that Yuu knew far, far too well; he had seen it on himself in the mirror, after all, during the nights he had stared at himself with a knife to his throat and his mind filled only with thoughts of how he shouldn't be alive.
"Mika. No. No." He moved without thinking about it, grabbing onto Mika's shoulders before he could get away. The vampire flinched guiltily, trying to jerk away, but Yuu didn't let him. "Mika, you can't. You can't die. Not after everything we've been through! We have to save you. Somehow, anyway possible- whatever it is, you drinking my blood, drinking someone else's blood, I'll do it. I don't care if it'll hurt me- losing you will hurt me more." He blinked back tears, tried to swallow down the sob choking his throat, to no avail. "Mika, I can't lose you again. I can't."
Mika looked him in the eyes, and the despair in his gaze tore him asunder. There were tears slipping down his cheeks, brightening his icy blue eyes; a shade of blue that he loved, a shade that, if he had his way, would soon be replaced by a dull, bloody red. "Yuu, trust me, this is one of the last things I wanted to happen right now. But living as a full vampire?" He made a wounded noise in the back of his throat; Yuu had to struggle hard against the urge to tuck him under his chin, knowing full well that he might injure Mika further in the process. "Yuu, if my turning is completed, I will never age. I'll lose the last of my humanity, I'll lose everything I ever was. I'll become a monster." He shuddered, reaching up a hand to press at his throat as he swallowed painfully; Yuu's eyes were drawn to the red that spotted his gloves, the shiver that shook him. "Do you want that, Yuu? Do you want me to suffer on as a vampire, the very creature that murdered our family? Or will you let me-"
"-Die here?" Yuu finished, and he shook his head, wiping away the last of his tears. He had had enough- if he didn't act now, he would do something even more reckless and stupid than the plan that had just jumped to his head, something that might end in his death, or a double suicide. He hated Romeo and Juliet. He didn't want to fall to that same stupid cliche. "When we still don't know if the turning is permanent? When I still told you, that despite anything you became, I would love you just as you are? When I would search the ends of the earth to give us a chance to be happy? No." He drew Asuramaru; Mika's eyes locked onto it, at once frightened and longing, and Yuu had to swallow down the sickly panic he felt when he saw how Mika viewed his blade. The sharp, stinging pain of the gash he opened on his forearm was nothing in comparison to the burning surge of emotions and instincts he was feeling: fear, hurt, terror, sorrow, love, protectfulness. Understanding. "I can't. I'm sorry, but I can't let you, Mika."
Mika's nostrils flared, pupils thinning to slits again at the scent of fresh blood. He hissed, low and serpentine, and then stepped back, limping as he went.
"You would rather me become a monster than let me die human?" Mika was shaking now, baring his teeth in a snarl; Yuu recognized his anger as desperate, and decided to tune out whatever Mika was about to say. He was just scared, scared of what he had come so close to doing; Yuu had been there before. He'd calm down eventually, anyways. He always did, no matter how mad he got. "You would rather let me suffer? You're selfish, Yuu! Absolutely selfish!" He shook his head, running his tongue over his teeth, and crossed his arms over his chest, trying to look like he was in control. Yuu didn't miss the way his claws sank into himself, trying to use the pain to stay grounded. Slowly, surely, Mika's resistance was beginning to crumble. "Yuu, it hurts. It hurts too much. I can't live on with the guilt, I can't handle knowing I became what you despise, even if you say otherwise. You're the last of the only family I ever had, you know I should have died for what I did, I can't-"
He looked so broken, so alone. Yuu couldn't take it anymore.
"You don't think I know how you feel? You don't think I thought the exact same thing after I left you to die, over and over and over again?" He slammed Asuramaru back into his sheath, jabbing the finger of his cut arm out at Mika. The vampire jerked back, shivering in hunger, but still managed to sternly glare back at him somehow, stubborn until the very end. "Mika, the night I left you, I wanted to die. I wanted to die so badly that if Guren hadn't locked the window to his apartment, I would have jumped." Mika's fear-scent spiked the air, and Yuu closed his eyes, struggling against the urge to shut up so that he wouldn't scare him further. Mika needed to know. It wouldn't be right to think he was all alone. "All the times I was mean to you, to Akane, to all the kids- it made me think of how fucking awful it was for me to survive. Out of all the wonderful, innocent people in our family, it was me, the asshole brat who survived. It still hurts. Because living hurts, more than anything else in the world. But I kept going, even though it felt impossible, and I found you again. I found another family, another group of people who needed me." He opened his eyes, breathed out, and opened his arms wide- he was crying, but he couldn't find it in himself to care. The sorrowful, broken person across from him was the only thing he could bother to care about right now. "Yes, I'm selfish. I know it. But we don't know what the future holds. And if I lose you-" His voice broke, and he struggled to clear it, breathing as deeply as he could to try to calm himself. For once, Asuramaru was wonderfully, blessedly silent, not using his weakness against him- maybe he sensed Yuu wouldn't tolerate it if he did. "If I lose you, all of that new hope will be gone."
Mika took a deep breath in, held it, and then breathed out hard. Tears were flowing freely down his face; unlike Yuu, he made no attempt to stop them so that he could speak. Yuu could see the struggle in him, the fear of what was to come next, and gave one final, gentle nudge.
"Drink, Mika." He placed two fingers on either edge of the cut, urged it bleed more, offered it out to the dying vampire in front of him like an olive branch. "It's okay."
And his walls broke down.
Mika made a horrible, wounded noise in the back of his throat, gouging his claws deeper into himself, and then he looked up. Yuu had one last glance of desperate, tear-filled blue eyes, and then Mika lunged for him with an agonized scream, and oh.
Oh.
The bite didn't hurt like he thought he would. There was a sharp sting as the fangs entered his neck- his neck, his neck, Mika went for his neck instead of his arm- and then there was a surge of light, floating bliss, pleasure singing through his veins as the venom took hold and numbed him out. He barely registered the thud of them colliding against a couch; all he could feel,all he could think about was Mika pressed up against him, pinning him in place, the weight of him straddling his lap the only grounding thing he had as his body warmed and tingled pleasantly. Vaguely, he was aware of his hands grasping at Mika's back, tangling in his cape- but that seemed irrelevant in the sudden wave of comfort that he felt once he realized that he was safe, that Mika was safe, that he would not lose him now, (and, if he had any say in it) ever again.
He smiled, blissed out with a mixture of relief and neurotoxins, and slid a hand up into Mika's hair, carding his fingers through it as he pressed him closer. Mika let out a soft rumble against his skin- a purr? A growl? Yuu was okay with either- and hooked an arm around Yuu's back, trying to lift him for a better angle, to which Yuu happily obliged. Having Mika here, pressed up against him, feeding off his blood- it felt great. Right. Like he was giving back in some small way, owning up to the mistake he made when he left Mika behind to die all alone.
He's yours. He's here, and he's yours, and you're protecting him, keeping him safe, as you were born to do. It's right. This is right.
This is where you belong.
"Welcome home, Mika," he whispered- and his omega shivered against him, pulled back to lick the blood from his lips and stare at him, incredulous. And Yuu watched, with a mixture of sadness and awe, as the blue of his eyes slowly darkened and shifted, turning from a beautiful sky blue to the colour of blood spilled fresh from the vein.
"Home? We have no home." Mika's voice was hoarse from crying, but already he sounded stronger, clearer, what could be scented of him under the reek of blood finally free from pain. He licked his lips- whether from nervousness, or simply because he was a messy biter- and Yuu's eyes followed the motion, hungry again for a kiss, now that the immediate danger had passed. "We never did, Yuu. We're orphans, the both of us." And then he paused, raised an eyebrow, looked at Yuu like he wanted to hope for something, but was too afraid to fully commit. "...Unless you have some miraculous plan that I don't know about yet."
The sarcasm in his voice was tangible. Yuu grinned, happy to see the Mika he knew was back, and pulled him closer, heart soaring at the small, startled noise he made when he squeezed him tight."Maybe so. But until then...you're home. You're my home, Mika. Wherever you are- that's where I belong." Mika's breath hitched, his eyes widening as he flushed, and Yuu grinned sheepishly, his cheeks warming. "Wow, that's cheesier than I meant it to be. But really, Mika, you mean more to me than I think you give yourself credit for." He softened his voice, letting sincerity show through his words, and brought his hand up to stroke Mika's cheek, brushing away the dried blood still stuck there to marvel at the newfound hue of his skin. Fully turning, ironically enough, made Mika seem more alive than before. More real. "Even if you are an asshole sometimes."
"What, like keeping you alive? Someone has to be the responsible one here," Mika snarked, though the rebuttal was weak as Yuu stroked a finger under his jaw, slow and undeniably intimate. Yuu could feel the slight buzz of a purr there, right by the slow, faint pulse of a vampire's heartbeat, and grinned. Turning him hadn't taken that away from him, the way he'd grow soft and shocked and quiet everytime someone showed affection to him. Yuu hoped that someday, the shock of being loved might wear away, but until then, it was a great tool to put him right where he wanted him to be.
"No. For kissing me, and then running off before giving me a chance to run back, you ass." A light, playful flick to the underside of his throat snapped Mika to full alertness, shock and embarrassment lighting up his face, but Yuu didn't give him a chance to stew in his mortification. Instead, he tilted his head up so that he had no choice but to look right at him, gave him his signature troublemaker's smirk, and bit down on his lip, hard.
His teeth were still pretty sharp from Asuramaru's near-possession; he tore through the skin near-instantly. Blood welled up, warm and salty, and Mika's pupils slitted, locking onto it instantaneously. Shock flashed over his face, mixed with disbelief- but all it took was one slight encouraging nudge before he lunged forward and pressed Yuu back into the couch for a kiss, a deep, hungry groan rumbling through his throat.
Yuu sighed happily, a croon rising in his chest, and kissed back with just as much vigor, butterflies fluttering in his belly at the feel of Mika's soft lips pressing against his. The sting of his cut lip was barely noticeable, just another hot spark against the heat warming his body- until Mika licked at it, the rough, bloodletting patch on his tongue sending a tingle through his lips, and that sting roared through him like a wildfire, weakening his joints, making him very, very aware of Mika's weight pressed against him.
He pulled back, pretending he needed air rather than time to very sternly tell himself not to jump ahead of things (especially now that he knew Mika was here to stay), and watched as Mika leaned away slowly, eyes hooded and dazed, as if he had just been awarded what he wanted the most in the world and couldn't believe what was happening to him. Yuu felt mostly the same- but he was also just as aware of how sweet and alluring Mika suddenly smelled, the way he subconsciously tilted his head just so, offering himself up to Yuu for the taking, and he was very, very acutely aware that if he didn't get them out of a conveniently dark, enclosed room in time, the alpha in him might be very much inclined to just decide to give up on going back to the squad altogether in favor of courting and taking care of his new mate.
"So anyways," he said- and coughed to clear the huskiness in his voice, jeez where was his self-control, lightheadedness from bloodloss was hardly an excuse- "You're a dick, and next time you want to kiss me, give me time to reciprocate, dammit." He leaned forward, nudged his nose teasingly against Mika's, and smiled at the purr it got out of him. "Or else I might be forced to pull that little trick again."
"Dirty play," Mika whispered, making no attempt to keep the longing out of his voice. His eyes were still locked on Yuu's lips, a smudge of red that Yuu knew was his blood coating his own, and it looked good, felt good. Yuu could hardly believe he was his. "Very, very dirty play, Yuu. The worst."
Yuu leaned his head back, and laughed. Mika blinked at him, snapped out of his reverie, and smiled, quietly, hesitantly. Yuu loved him for it.
"Yeah, well, like I said, you're a dick!" He urged Mika off his lap; his partner went with nary a complaint, though perhaps that was only because he followed him up as quick as he could, and hid his sudden wave of dizziness by taking his hand and leaning into him like the drunken, lovestruck fool he was proud to be. "But luckily, luckily for you, I like dicks. A lot. And you can't try to call me a dick either." He pulled a leaf out of Shinoa's book and leaned forward, wiggling his eyebrows as Mika turned red and spluttered indignantly. "Because now I know that you do too."
Mika looked away, embarrassed, adorable, flushed red and pretty because of it. His smile was still a little self-conscious, still a little sad- but that was okay. Yuu knew that there was more to do to banish that unhappiness than a simple kiss and a few jokes, no matter how funny they were. He really was a brilliant jokester when he was suffering from bloodloss, actually. He should do this more often. It was a wonderful way to take him out to dinner, after all, since dinner was him!
"No. No you shouldn't." Mika turned to him and gave him a stern look, and that was the only way Yuu realized that he'd been saying all that shit out loud. "Drinking the blood of family is already degrading enough to you as is- I'm not going to make it even more fucked up by making you my dinner. It's not right, Yuu. I shouldn't be drinking your blood at all."
Oh, what a very noble, very Mika thing to say. Yuu snorted, rolled his eyes, and then tugged on their intertwined hands, leading Mika towards the exit, towards where the rest of their family lay in wait for them.
"Frankly, I'd be insulted if you didn't drink my blood." He tried to usher Mika through the doorway, like he used to see alphas do for their partner, but nearly fell over when the block of concrete he was on wobbled. Mika ended up carrying him out instead- something he was quite alright with. Just feeling him there, solid and alive and very much not bleeding to death- that was worth far, far more than his pride. "I put you into that situation, I'm your alpha. There is nothing degrading about being yours, or keeping you safe.." Mika's cheeks pinkened at those words- and oh, it was such a lovely sight, especially in the light of day. Yuu wanted to see him liked that forever, shy, flustered, loved. He smiled up at the sun, at the clear blue sky, and decided, on a whim, that while pale blue was a lovely colour and all, he was starting to think that red was also just as wonderful and lovely. It wasn't the colour of death and monsters to him anymore- it was the colour of hope, of new life. "I mean, it's my job to do so- you may protect me, but you always seem to forget that you need someone to protect you, too. That's what I do." He jumped up the concrete slab, rolled over, and grinned up at Mika as he perched up above him, catlike, ethereal, beautiful. He was an angel- the only god Yuu thought was worth praying to. He didn't care if it sounded lovestruck, or cheesy, or indicated he was still intoxified on venom. As long as it was Mika intoxicating him, as long as he was still alive, he didn't care. He couldn't.
Well. He did care about one other thing. But he blamed it more on his own competitiveness and curiosity than anything else, really.
"And besides," Yuu said, turning away with a smirk as he watched Mika leap down, "I bet I taste a whole hell of a lot better than anybody else, either."
Mika's landing was a lot less elegant and a whole lot more stumbly and embarrassed than it probably should have been. Yuu tipped his head back and laughed until his sides ached, reveling in the simple pleasure of watching his beloved scrunch his nose at him in indignation, at the simple pleasure of knowing he wasn't alone, and that Mika wouldn't leave him anytime soon, if ever again.
It was a beautiful day to be alive.