(A/n: Trigger warning: lots of blood mentioned in this one)

Chapter 40: Refusal, Defiance, Repercussions, And Blossoming Feelings

Since Tweek slept all the way until the evening, he was unable to fall asleep throughout the whole night. Kyle told him that it was possible to be forced to go to sleep - since vampires don't necessarily require any rest in the first place - it's just something they do at the academy because the Principal wanted it to feel more...natural; but Kyle refused to resort to that method. It's not anything physical such as having to knock Tweek out cold, rather it's another innate ability vampires can do. It's completely harmless (unless done to a human) yet Kyle would feel morally wrong forcing Tweek to sleep. So, they stayed up the whole night getting to know more about each other, they couldn't leave their room since it was past midnight. It was a very nice and relaxing moment, little did they know they were strengthening their bond all the while.

Now that it's morning, Tweek is still unable to feel any drowsiness. They're still sitting on Kyle's bed, the redhead made no plans to attend his classes today, and neither did Tweek. Kyle had changed into his pajamas last night. It's half a minute later when Tweek gets a random idea. "How about I let Luke talk me to sleep?" The guy had a lot to say the last time he 'talked' to him the entire night, however at that time Tweek greatly disliked him so instead of feeling physically tired, he was just tired of listening to him ramble. He still doesn't like Luke, but his hatred towards him has diminished a little.

Kyle stifles a laugh at his suggestion. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind doing that, but...he's been silent ever since last night."

Tweek frowns at that. "Oh..." The silence that settles over them is overlapped by the rainfall. "I think you should just force to me to sleep then." Kyle instantly shakes his head. "The sooner I sleep, the quicker we can get this over with," Tweek presses. He doesn't know why Kyle is so against putting him to sleep, he told him doing so wouldn't harm him so what else could be the problem?

Kyle lightly bites his bottom lip. Tweek is right, but..."I'm sorry Tweek, but I can't." He gazes into Tweek's eyes. "It wouldn't feel right forcing you to do something you don't want to do."

Tweek blushes at his sincere yet serious reply. He's never met someone so considerate towards him before, he hates to think this but not even his own parents were like this. "O-okay." Tweek looks away, he knows he won't be able to change Kyle's mind, and he'd rather not pester him anymore about it. He too wouldn't want to force Kyle to do something he doesn't want to just for his sake. His blush fading away, he stands up from the bed. "I'll just go lay down, and keep my eyes closed until I drift off to sleep."

Before he walks away, Kyle grabs his wrist. He looks at the redhead, whose cheeks are turning a faint red. "You can lay down on my bed."

Tweek's blush comes back more prominent. "O-okay." Kyle lets him go, and he gets back into the redhead's bed, crawling towards the middle. Laying down on the soft pillow, he closes his eyes. The soothing sounds of the rain gradually lull him to sleep.

After a few minutes, Kyle carefully slips down to the floor, turning around whilst sitting on his knees. He keeps an intent eye on Tweek's face, grabbing his hand and giving it a light squeeze.

/

"Well, well, well, you've suddenly grown some balls since our last encounter."

Tweek tries not to show any fear as he glares into Shadow's void-like hood. They're once again standing in the massive field covered in snow, however now the only difference is that the grey clouds look darker and gloomier. It wasn't like this before, it only changed when Tweek gathered up the courage to deny following through with Shadow's orders.

"Hmph, can't say I'm surprised though," Shadow says, his tone calm. "It is disappointing nonetheless."

Tweek raises an eyebrow. "So you knew I would refuse to do it?"

"I had a hunch, yes. But believe it or not, I tried my best to ease your worries so you could go through with completing your first task, which was to simply come up with a punishment for the vampire hunter. Now I know my efforts were in vain." Shadow shakes his head, disappointed.

Tweek did not expect to hear such a confession from Shadow, and it shows on his face. To think a complete stranger was willing to go so far just to help him. But then the reason why dawns on him, and the tiny bit of surfacing guilt disappears. "You can't blame me for not fully trusting you when you started helping me outta nowhere, plus you're the reason why I was turned into a vampire in the first place."

Shadow stares into blue-green eyes gleaming with not only determination, but also anger. He suddenly stifles a laugh, and then he's laughing outright, his laughter resonating throughout the whole landscape. Tweek gets the feeling that this bastard is mocking him, taking his genuine exasperation lightly. Which pisses him off even more. But before he can say anything, Shadow starts calming down. "I guess your reasoning is valid enough to back up your defiance...however..." Suddenly, his whole demeanor changes, and Tweek knows this nerve-racking feeling all too well after the first time. "Do you think I'll tolerate your disobedience?" He inquires, ominously calm.

Tweek tenses, trying hard not to appear afraid, but the minacious aura surrounding Shadow is very perturbing. "O-of course not. I know you were planning to kill me if I ever refused."

Shadow chuckles darkly at his answer. "Oh, did you now? Then you must be thoroughly prepared for death."

In the blink of an eye, Tweek feels a gloved hand roughly grab his throat. He lets out a startled grunt, immediately trying to pry the hand off from around his neck. Shadow moved way too fast for him to react! He begins to panic even more when he feels himself being lifted from off the ground. But then he realizes...this is all just a dream. Even if Shadow kills him here, he'll just wake up from this horrid experience unscathed, and will only have to worry about being killed in the real world. Though Shadow will most likely get the same treatment as the vampire hunter if be steps foot into the academy.

"How naive." Shadow tightens his grip, Tweek instinctively trying to get him to let go once again. "I guess Little Kyle forgot to tell you this..." With his other hand, he jabs Tweek in the stomach, hard enough to leave the teen breathless and cough up a small amount of blood. It splatters onto the snow right by Shadow's feet. "Whatever pain that inflicts you in a lucid dream will also be dealt onto your real body." Shadow strengthens his grip a bit more, tears on the verge of slipping from underneath Tweek's clenched closed eyelids. "Even though I can't kill you by snapping your neck nor by depleting your air supply, I can, however, make you suffer to the point of you wanting me to end your life." A small pocketknife materializes in his free hand. Flicking the blade out, he plunges it straight into Tweek's stomach. He cries out in pain, and the tears are freed when his eyes snap open. Shadow then starts stabbing him repeatedly in his stomach, and it eventually becomes known with each stab that he's enjoying tormenting the poor teen.

Despite the tremendous pain Tweek is feeling right now, he wonders why Kyle hasn't come to his aid yet. He could really use his help right now or he's going to be killed at this rate. He practically swore to protect him, so why is he not here?

Just when he has given up hope, he hears footsteps crunching snow followed by a voice.

"Sorry to interrupt your 'fun', but I can't let you continue any further."

They stop walking. Shadow halts himself from stabbing Tweek's bloody abdomen again, slowly turning his head to look at his disruptor. Tweek struggles to open his eyes, having closed them while he was getting stabbed. That didn't sound like Kyle...

"State your reason for being here, Luke." There was a steely edge in Shadow's demand.

Tweek weakly opens his eyes after hearing the familiar name, but he is unable to turn his head due to Shadow's vice-like grip around his throat.

Standing a few feet away from them is a teen with his long red hair tied up into a ponytail, a gentle breeze swaying his hair to one side. His expression is stern, however there's an evident hint of nervousness in his red eyes. He's wearing a formal attire consisting of a dark red dress shirt that's tucked neatly into his black pants that's fastened by a grey belt, and on his feet are a pair of black dress shoes. He bows respectfully at Shadow. "I've come here to stop you from killing Tweek, Master Ingrum."

Tweek hadn't even gotten over his initial shock of Luke's sudden arrival, and now he learns what Shadow's real name is. Not only that, Kyle's assumption was right, these two are in fact acquainted with each other.

Ingrum cocks his head to the side slightly. "Oh, is that so? How did you know I was going to kill him, hmm?" Tweek grunts when he feels a twinge in his stomach, he'd been stabbed again.

"..." Luke straightens his posture, a tense frown on his face.

"Afraid to admit that you've been spying on us?" Ingrum asks, amused. "You may have been the one who initiated a bond with Tweek, however that wasn't your body so your supposed bond with him is actually Kyle's." Then he looks back at Tweek, who winces when he pulls his knife out. "But it doesn't matter, your trip here was pointless. I'm going to kill this brat no matter how much you beg." He looks back at Luke pointing his blood covered knife at him. "Then I'll deal with you for snooping around where your nose doesn't belong." He flings his weapon at Luke, he dodges it and rushes at him with a vibrant red flame encasing his left hand.

He aims to deal a burning blow to Ingrum's chest, but the man quickly places Tweek's body in front of him as a shield. Luke expected him to do that so he hurls a fireball at his feet, causing him to jump away and as a result, Tweek is finally released from his clutches. Luke catches him and gently lays him down on the ground, grimacing sadly as he wipes the tears away at the multiple bloody punctures in Tweek's pajama shirt. His bruised neck has all five fingers imprinted on his skin. Luke stands up when he hears Ingrum burst into mirthful laughter, turning around and glaring uneasily at him.

"Your concern towards someone that isn't your brother is rather unexpected," Ingrum says. "Need I remind you that you expressed your disdain, and referred to Tweek as an 'unwanted pet' when I ordered you to turn him into a vampire?"

Luke winces, frowning guiltily at the harsh words he uttered back then. "That's all the more reason why I can't let you kill him. I still deeply care about Kyle, and since he's bonded with Tweek..." He curls his hands into fists. "I can't let him experience losing someone he cares about..." He clenches his fists. "Not again..."

Ingrum observes him silently for a moment. "Hmph, either way I cannot turn a blind eye towards your rebellious behavior nor your eavesdropping. I hope you've prepared yourself for severe punishment."

Luke purses his lips, he's terrified but he doesn't show it on his face. "I have, and I know full well that I deserve it."

"Good, because you won't be seeing your brother nor Tweek again for quite some time." Luke merely tenses up again.

All throughout the duration of them conversing, more and more questions kept piling up in Tweek's head. How does Luke have his own body when he was told that he died when he was a child? How was it even made possible for Luke to reside inside Kyle after his death to begin with? Tweek has so many questions regarding Luke, and he now realizes that Luke is just as mysterious as Ingrum.

"Tweek." Said teen blinks, noticing that Luke has gotten down on one knee, and is looking at him with a sad frown. He's so used to Luke calling him by his cringey nickname that it feels...a bit weird for him to call him by his actual name. "You need to hurry and wake up. Those injuries will take awhile to heal so you need to drink some blood to quicken your recovery."

Tweek frowns, reluctant to return to reality. "B-but-"

"I know you have a lot of questions, but I don't have the time to answer them all...Though I can tell you this much. The reason why I drunk your blood that day in the infirmary. It was to save you. If Kyle had of gave in to his desire, he would've killed you, and I couldn't let that happen. The consequences of killing a human at the academy would've been far worse than turning a human into a vampire. I know an apology won't make you hate me any less, but I don't regret saving you." Luke stands up, and turns away from Tweek. "Make sure to tell Kyle that I won't be around for awhile, and it's okay for you to tell him everything that happened here. Master Ingrum will be too preoccupied with me to notice, and even if he does, I'll do my best to stop him. Even if I have to die again in the process."

Tweek watches him walk towards Ingrum, the scenery behind the man suddenly being engulfed by darkness. Once he's next to him, Luke turns around giving Tweek a sad smile before him and Ingrum are gone, and soon the darkness swiftly surges forward, swallowing Tweek into nothingness.

/

"Tweek?!"

Tweek's eyelids spilt apart in feeble flutters. The first to enter his blurry field of view is a head of red hair and lime-green eyes. He groans, his neck aches, but his stomach is causing him the most discomfort.

"Quick, drink this."

An enticing smell travels into Tweek's nose, but he doesn't have the energy move. Kyle frowns at the apathetic look in his eyes. He sips some of the blood into his mouth, and leans over planting his lips against Tweek's. The dazed teen absentmindedly opens his mouth, allowing Kyle to push small quantities of blood in, Tweek swallowing the red fluid. Kyle separates once he runs out of blood, then he sips up some more and feeds Tweek again, continuing the process until the cup is empty.

After wiping away the blood that failed to enter Tweek's mouth from both of their lips and chin, Kyle gently embraces Tweek, burying his face into his shoulder. He doesn't care that he's getting blood on his night clothes nor that the blood had seeped into his bed, he feels repentant for not being there for Tweek when he needed him. "I'm so sorry..."

Tweek can not only feel the pain from his wounds lessening, but also his body regaining some energy. "Why didn't you come help me?" His question was uttered so softly that it makes Kyle feel twice as remorseful. "You told me...you wouldn't let him lay a finger on me..."

"I know, I know. I..." Kyle pulls away, tears gleaming in his eyes. "I was going to enter your dream as soon as I saw you looking like you were being strangled, but...Luke wanted to help you, saying this was his chance to repent for his selfish actions. So I let him go." Wiping his eyes, he sits back inspecting Tweek's injuries on his neck and stomach, they have now completely healed.

After being expressionless for the past few minutes, Tweek's face morphs into a sad frown. "We won't be hearing from him again for awhile...and it's my fault. I'm sorry..."

Kyle appears devastated by the news, but then his lips curl into a pained smile. "You don't have to apologize, he saved you because he wanted to." He grabs Tweek's hand. "It's not your fault."

"Yes, it is." Tweek sits up, the sadness and guilt practically eating away at him inside. He begins to tell Kyle everything that happened after he told Ingrum - no longer referring to him as creepy guy - that he refused to listen to him anymore, which led up to him being choked then stabbed multiple times until Luke came. He shudders at the memory, Kyle giving his hand a comforting squeeze. He relaxes, then proceeds to tell Kyle that his assumption of the two was partially correct, instead of working together Luke is the one who follows Ingrum's orders. And he stops there, letting Kyle digest all that he'd apprised to him first.

The redhead is left flabbergasted. There's so much to unpack from the moment when Luke came to save Tweek. He's silent for over a minute. "So...that guy's name is Ingrum..."

"Do you know him too?"

Kyle purses his lips. "I didn't at first, I never knew his name until now." He sighs. "I can't believe Luke has been working under him all this time."

"At least we know who's been giving him orders," Tweek says. And why Luke was unable to reveal to them his reasonings behind his actions.

Kyle appears grim rather than relieved. "Yeah, but I don't know why. He was killed by that bastard."

Tweek's eyes widen in shock, and that reminds him of one of the questions that sprung to mind when he saw Luke in his own body. "Actually, how did Luke get transferred into your body?"

Kyle blinks, then furrows his eyebrows, puzzled. "I...don't know. He never told me the process, and I never really bothered to ask. I was just glad to have him back in my life."

Tweek makes a bitter face at his last statement. "If I had of prepared myself better, then Luke wouldn't have came to save me. He's saved me twice now..."

"What do you mean? What else happened?"

Tweek stares sadly into Kyle's eyes. "That day you took me to the infirmary, Luke told me that the reason he took over was because you would've killed me if he hadn't."

"..." Kyle is left gawking at Tweek, disconcerted by what he'd just been told.

"You should know very well why I did that. I can't ever do that without a reason."

Kyle frowns in realization. "So, that's what he was hinting at...Why didn't he just tell me? Idiot..." And the look on his face at the time portrayed the complete opposite of his true intentions.

Tweek senses the turmoil of emotions going on within Kyle, and it's making him anxious. He's unable to discern what he's really feeling at the moment. But he doesn't say anything, thinking it's best not to until Kyle gets his emotions under control. He listens to the raindrops beating against the large building, sounding like pebbles. The rain fills the verbal silence a few moments longer.

"You should go and take a shower then change into new pajamas so no teachers and students passing by smell the blood."

Kyle sounded calm just now, however Tweek still can't pinpoint what he's exactly feeling. "You hate me, don't you?" He would completely understand if he does, he'd gotten his twin brother into serious trouble after all.

Kyle eyes him in incredulity at his assumption. "Of course I don't. I could never hate you, you did nothing wrong."

"Luke is being punished because of me."

Kyle shakes his head with a small smile. "Even so, I'm sure he was prepared for it. You shouldn't blame yourself for something he did of his own volition."

"But...o-okay," Tweek concedes with a sigh. Kyle is right, but he can't get rid of the lingering guilt. He imagines how things would've went had Kyle came to his rescue instead like initially planned, Luke would still be here with them. That's for sure... "I'm gonna go take a shower now." Tweek gets up from the bed, his hand slowly leaving Kyle's own. He heads towards his dresser beside the big window.

Kyle comes up to him, hugging him from behind by the waist. "I'm really glad that you didn't suffer a...fatal injury." He raises a hand up to Tweek's chest, right over his now racing heart. "As long as you never get injured here..." He falls silent for a second, just feeling the other's heart beating against his palm. "I promise I will never let something like that happen to you ever again."

Blushing profusely, Tweek just smiles, placing his hand over Kyle's own that's over his chest.

(A/n: Finally, some Twyle fluff)