Bloody Fangs

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Sorry for the late upload, it's crunch time at school. Enjoy!

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Black smoke curled around and through her. This was her curse, her blessing. The smoke, miasma, exuded from her body and bathed her in darkness. Left stagnant for over four centuries, the mist was so thick as to induce claustrophobia. She would have it no other way.

"I really am becoming more lenient."

Their voices rang out in her head. The second one, Aldebaran, and the third one, her beloved. She had mostly tuned out Aldebaran by now, focusing only on the thoughts and experiences of her beloved. She saw what he saw, felt what he felt, and hurt when he hurt. She had to, because then she wouldn't know when to use Envy in favor of her beloved. Quite the selfish authority, Envy is.

To disregard reality and substitute it with another, to be so jealous as to mould fate in it's favor. It really was selfish. All for her beloved.

"Don't hurt…"

She could feel him, he was hurting. He hurt constantly and it hurt her. Don't hurt. Don't hurt. Don't hurt. Don't hurt don't hurt don't hurt don't hurt don't hurtdon'thurtdon'thurtdon'thurtdon'thurtdon'thurtdon'thurt.

"Ah."

It seems like her time is almost up. The other one is about to take over for a while. She pushed her hand through the purling smoke, trying to grasp it and hang on to her wavering sanity. No good. No good. No good no good no go-

She pressed her hands to her temples, trying to subdue the other half. She opened her eyes again, staring into the unending darkness. There was a way to lessen her beloved's burden. Envy was made for more than one person. That was how she had been bringing her beloved back with her. That was why he had her touch, but not an authority. Yet. She mulled over the decision in her head. The other one wasn't touched by her, some other power had brought him over. She would need some sort of catalyst in order to connect with him.

—

"…I still don't understand why I'm clear to leave."

Speaking to himself, Meiss looked at the line of carriages ahead, all of these are returning to Arlam village and their cargo is the Arlam villagers. Meiss could see the anticipation in the people's faces for their return home. To Meiss' understanding, they had been cooped up in a church for about a week and a half and were eager to return home. There were even paid merchants here that had gotten wrapped up in this mess.

Arlam village…

Meiss had caught a glimpse of the village when they were coming from Crusch's mansion. He hadn't made any trips down there in the short time he had stayed at the Roswaal mansion and didn't have any relation to them. Subaru on the other hand seemed to have a strong relationship with the villagers, one that left him as a sort of "plug'' that held back negative responses. Without him, the Arlam villagers probably would have done something about their conditions by now. Roswaal injuring himself was put in the same situation as Subaru, but his relations were less favorable and that charade would only work for so long.

"Tch, the clown wants me to leave. That means I'm staying. Has he foreseen that?"

As always, precognition would be a huge pain. Especially when the parties involved had less than ideal views of the other. Well, Meiss had no idea how Roswaal felt about him, but it was clear to see that Meiss didn't favor the clown.

"Hey Meiss! The carriages are all set, pick one!"

Subaru came up to the thinking Meiss, Emilia was trailing close behind him. The half-elf had been sticking close to his side ever since the trial. When she wasn't next to him she was in her room. She's hiding her unsightly side from everyone, except for maybe Subaru when they're in private. It's easier to see that when you've done that yourself. Meiss crossed his arms as the teen and the half-elf drew closer.

"Subaru, mind talking for a second?"

Subaru froze his hand mid-wave. Well, most of our private talks have been about his Redo's, so I guess that response makes sense.

"It's not about it; it's about me leaving."

"Oh, sure talk away."

Meiss slackened his arms, so that each forearm was held by each of his hands. He ran a finger over his scars, the tissue tingling slightly as his sweater rubbed against the skin.

"…I don't like how Roswaal is sending me away. The entire reason I came was because you used it, so I don't feel comfortable leaving yet."

Redo… Subaru and Meiss had agreed to refer to the Redo vaguely, for Subaru feared the repercussions. Besides the stopped heart, Meiss had no idea what those repercussions were, and as such had no idea if they could be evaded.

"So you're saying you don't want to leave then. Roswaal ordered it though."

Meiss nodded, glancing at Emilia. She had been silent throughout the short conversation, ever since the end of their individual trials he hadn't heard a peep from the half-elf. If her past was that bad then It would make sense to retreat inside oneself for a time. That length of time for Emilia was unknown. Being half-elf, she had probably lived longer than most people here, which means more prejudice. The fact that she had ventured out was probably to wish the villagers a safe return to their home.

"I… Safe travels… Meiss."

Meiss met Emilia's eyes. Those purple irises didn't seem to reflect the usual amount of warmth. She's putting up this front just to say goodbye… Meiss smiled, hoping that it looked warm and gentle, before shaking the half-elf's hand.

"Thanks, I've had a lot of fun here so far and I hope to continue that trend in the future."

Meiss retracted his hand after the short exchange. His gaze met Subaru's, and Meiss mouthed the words 'I'm sneaking back in," to the teen. Subaru looked pumped for a few seconds, then he left with Emilia, the two holding hands. Meiss watched their backs as they left the carriages. It was nice.

But Meiss also felt conflicted.

Am I watching a polygamy in the making? It was no question how Rem felt for Subaru, the two had even snacked on eachother's faces. Emilia was a little different though. Meiss wasn't sure how she felt about Subaru, if he was a good friend or more. The half-elf was definitely a little envious of Rem and Subaru's closeness, but whether or not that's because she had feelings was unknown to Meiss.

Well at least she didn't hurt me when we shook hands.

—

Forest blurred together as they traveled past. Birdsong rang through the trees and was distorted by the sound of rushing air. The occasional bump in the road was barely felt. Sitting on the bed of a carriage was Meiss and Subaru

"How are we going to do this?"

Meiss asked this question, which was directed at Subaru. How would Meiss return to Sanctuary? The two were in the last carriage on the returning villagers convoy. As for what allowed the carriages to be considered as such…

"What'cha talkin' 'bout?"

"Ah, Subaru and I were merely talking about water. So, we have ten grams of H2O, and we want to count the exact number of Hydrogen at-"

"Stop stop, ok ok! By th' Dragon yer givin' me a headache."

Garfiel, who was not breaking a sweat despite running alongside the carriages, was guiding them outside of the forest. He would drop by every now and then to check up on everybody by going up and down the line of carriages.

Subaru was going to ride the carriages until they met with the barrier, then he would get out and hoof it back to Sanctuary along with Garfiel. Meiss had to get out of the carriage sometime before they left the forest, he just didn't know when. Sighing, Meiss thought of Emilia and how shaken she was after taking the trial. The blonde was sure she would burst into tears at any second when they were walking down the tomb's corridor. She certainly looked like she was about to. If anything, Meiss had to go back and take the trial in Emilia's stead. He didn't know how much of her past she could take. That was in conjunction with the Ousagi, which Subaru said would attack. Meiss had no idea when it would attack, but just that it would. The blonde hadn't wanted to press it further, he felt that just knowing the information was risky.

"Why don't you just come back with me?"

There was that option, but the problem would be Garfiel. The slim guy had kept an upbeat attitude with them around others, but Meiss knew he didn't favor Subaru. Garfiel was also probably pissed that Meiss ran into the tomb without permission. Now that I think about it, it may be best to go back with those two, to make sure Garfiel doesn't try anything.

…

Oh, the carriages are stopping.

Meiss leaned his head out the side of the carriage. The wind gently tousled his hair as it hung from the side of his head. The blonde could see the small form of Garfiel walking back along the road, towards them. It didn't take that long for him to reach the back, where Subaru and Meiss were.

"Here's about where most'v you guys part with my amazin' self."

Garfiel brought his hands to his sides in a superhero pose as Subaru and Meiss got off the carriage. Garfiel glanced at Meiss questioningly before turning to face the other carriages. The guy waved his hand to signal them to continue on and slowly but surely, the carriages drove on towards Arlam village. Garfiel stood motionless for a second as Subaru mounted the de-carriaged Patrasche. Meiss climbed onto the black dragon behind Subaru, shifting himself to have both legs hanging off one side.

"It's 'bout time we start heading back, no?"

Garfiel uncrossed his arms, turning to face the two mounted aliens. His face, his entire demeanor had changed. Now there was nothing but anger, some pretty potent anger. He barely looked at the two as he stomped past. A few seconds of silence passed before the petite blonde barked at them to get a move on.

—

The chitter of bugs, the swaying of the trees, the crunch of the earth under paw and foot. All of it seemed too loud for Meiss. Garfiel had matched his stride with Patrache to be next to her as she ran. From Sanctuary to the barrier would take about twenty minutes by carriage. Now that Patrache was unhindered with such a thing it should take about fifteen minutes at most. Meiss couldn't ignore the hostile aura coming from Garfiel, and had switched the side his legs were hanging from to face him.

"So, why th' hell're you comin' with, Blondie? Heard Roswaal sent ya back."

"He's not my boss or lord, the clown has no sway when it comes to my decisions."

"Tch, why're you gettin' involved with affairs that ya don't need ta?"

"You're right, why am I getting involved? Such a good question, shame the answer is a trade secret, so I'm not telling you."

Garfiel clicked his tongue again when his question was evaded. Subaru looked back at the two with a sheepish grin.

"Hey hey~, your passive-aggressiveness is scaring Patrache, so could you dial it waaaaay back please?"

Patrache snorted as if to say I'm not scared, you're scared. She was right. The pressure that Garfiel and Meiss are exuding from their simple conversation is making cold sweat run down Subaru's back. It wasn't quite on the level of the Hakugei or Echidna and the other witches, but was similar to that one time when Al asked about Ram in the capital. It was scary.

"An' this guy, comparin' my feelin's 'tween you two's like the two sides'v an Oiranguma, 's like night'n day. As a matter of fact… why don' I just do everyone's noses a favor?"

Garfiel's hand shot out towards Subaru, who flinched too late. He was only saved by Meiss, who grabbed Garfiel's wrist just barely in time. Patrache jumped away, growling at Garfiel and baring her fangs. Subaru's eyes were wide, and his hand traveled up to his neck. The teen could see blood when he checked his hand.

"What the hell!"

Meiss waved his hand at Garfiel as the pressure exploded. Garfiel was clearly enraged now, with no reserves. He stalked towards the pair of aliens like a lion with hackles raised. Patrache stopped her growling when Meiss started to get off of her to confront Garfiel.

"M-MEISS! TOMARE! Let's just run back to Sanctuary!"

Subaru, blood running down the side of his neck where Garfiel's hand had grazed him, gripped the reigns so hard his knuckles were white. Garfiel's eyes widened as Meiss hurriedly climbed back onto the jet-black dragon. The blonde was still hanging off the side of Patrache when she started to sprint towards Sanctuary.

"GUURRAAHHH! GET BACK HERE, MY AMAZIN' SELF AIN'T DONE WITH YA!"

Garfiel stomped the ground, sending a chunk of earth flying towards the mounted pair. Meiss and Patrache both reacted at the same time. The ground dragon veered left while Meiss spread his hand with the intent to use acedia. The boulder of loose earth hit the ground where they just were. Another was sent towards the fleeing aliens. This time, Meiss acted alone in saving them. Hand still raised, three ductile acedia flowed from Meiss' forearm and wrapped around the earth. Meiss swiped his arm to the side, sending the boulder careening into the woods.

Garfiel faltered in his stride for a second, the appearance of acedia was a surprise to him. His composure was regained lightning fast, and he gained speed. He was a little faster than Patrache, and caught up to them after half a minute. Jumping, Garfiel reached out to try and grab anything, Meiss, the saddle, Patrache's tail. The boy put a little more force into his jump than necessary, and ended up reaching for the saddle. His outstretched hand widened as it neared Patrache, only for Meiss to intercept.

"WRYYAHH!"

The blonde's arm, with the advanced form of dolorem active, seemed to buff up slightly. It's been a while since he used it, but he was careless during the Hakugei hunt. Instead of incapacitating his dominant arm, Meiss used his left arm to deliver the punch. The blonde's hand sailed cleanly through Garfiel's hand. The boy howled in pain before hitting the ground and rolling. Righting himself, Garfiel looked at his hand. The fingers hung lifelessly out of their sockets and from their tendons, which were exposed underneath his frayed and ripped skin.

"Gurrrrr…"

Garfiel rose to his feet, he tenderly held his hand in the other. Blue light enveloped his mangled hand as he watched the blondie and the witch boy ride off towards Sanctuary. Garfiel glanced at his hand, he was by no means the best healer, but he was above average. Tendons had been knitted together, bones placed back in their sockets, and the skin was about half-healed.

"Hmph, good 'nough."

—

Breathing heavy, Subaru and Meiss burst through the gates of Sanctuary and almost collided with Ram. The pink maid skillfully dodged the sprinting Patrache before looking at the two aliens with disdain.

"I thought Roswaal-sama requested the return of our guest to the mansion. Barusu, why has he returned with you? Also, where is Garf?"

"GIT BACK 'ERE YA BASTARDS!"

"Move Patrache! MOVE!"

Ram watched as the black dragon sprinted off towards the middle of Sanctuary. Looking back, she thought she could see Garfiel angrily sprinting towards the gates of Sanctuary. What the hell happened? When Garfiel neared, Ram stepped into the middle of the gate, intending to stop him. Garfiel took one glance at her and jumped over the pink maid, hitting the ground and continuing to run.

"God god god, what're we going to do!"

The frantic Subaru looked back at Meiss, who was watching behind them. Subaru took a glance over the blonde's shoulder and nearly pissed himself. Garfiel was running full speed towards them. He was shouting too, that was also scary. Subaru turned back around to spare himself the image and tightened his already tight grip on Patrache's reigns. The teen trusted the black dragon to know what she was doing so left navigation to her.

…

He started to rethink that when it seemed like they were heading for Roswaal's hut.

"Subaru? Why are we heading to Roswaal?!"

"I don't know! Patrache is just running that way!"

"Maybe we'll just pass it on the way to Emi- OH SONOFABITCH!"

Subaru heard Meiss yell behind him as dirt slammed into his back, sending him flying from Patrache. With a quite girly scream, Subaru slammed into the ground awkwardly and pain exploded up his leg. It took a second for his brain to catch up to registering that pain, but when that came it took everything Subaru had to not scream as loud as he would have. Fuck fuck fuck! Why is he attacking us? God damn it why? Flipping over, the teen saw Meiss pulling himself out from under a slab of earth. The blonde's left arm hung at his side, the clothes smoldering and blackened. He snapped to attention as another boulder sailed towards Subaru.

"ACEDIA!"

Once more, three ductile wires snaked from Meiss' body and wrapped around the earth, guiding its trajectory away from Subaru. The japanese teen looked at the display and the intimidating form of Garfiel, who slowly approached. Damn, I need to get out of here. If I stay I'll just be a burden, a body to worry about. Subaru tried to bring himself to his feet, only to find the source of his leg pain. Both lower leg bones punctured his skin and a few inches of them were visible, along with his bent thigh, which he couldn't even move. Upon seeing this horror, Subaru fell to the ground again, clutching his leg with one arm, screaming, and using his other arm to try and claw himself away from everything.

Hurts it hurts it hurts so much why did he do that it hurts it hurts oh god oh shit it hurts it hurts. Subaru could only think of getting out of there, of letting Meiss and Garfiel duke it out. He couldn't do anything here. Dimly, Subaru felt the gazes of Sanctuary's residents on him, but they did nothing. Sanctuary's people had known Garfiel for years, he was the strongest among them and also the most caring. They couldn't understand why this was happening.

"You an' yer surprises, you ain't a match for my amazin' self, the Fangs'v Sanctuary!"

"High and mighty eh? If theatrics is how you want to do this then you'll be sourly disappointed in me."

"Think ya can fight 'n protect him as well?"

"That's something I'm willing to bet on."

Subaru, leaking his life juices all over the place, heard this exchange as he crawled towards Roswaal's hut. If he had to choose he would rather go to Emilia and Rem, but Roswaal was closer. Subaru was pretty sure Roswaal would defend him, even in his weakened and hurt state. If not physically, then his word as lord should bide him some time to get out of here. Where was Patrache? She should have picked him up to run away ages ago. That she hadn't already done that drove a wrench in Subaru's heart. She hadn't done it, which means she couldn't do it. Subaru closed his eyes and continued to crawl.

CRACK!

Subaru flinched as the ground shook next to him. He looked over to see Garfiel slamming a slab of earth into Meiss, who took the brunt of the attack unscathed. His arm still hung at his side, and wiggled around slightly as he moved. Garfiel stomped the ground, and like a sea-saw, the ground rose up and flung Meiss into the air. Rivers of light exploded from the blonde and dissected a hunk of earth that was thrown his way. Garfiel himself jumped up to meet Meiss in the air, throwing out a punch that the blonde couldn't evade. Meiss flexed his burned arm activating buff dolorem, and swung the appendage into Garfiel's fist. Once more Garfiel's hand was shredded, but this didn't stop him as he struck out with his other arm. Meiss couldn't block or intercept as he was still mid-swing. Just before Garfiel's arm collided with Meiss' chest, it grew longer.

"Wha…"

Subaru watched as Garfiel's arm grew longer and wider, and grew fur. A lion's leg and paw, nearly four times larger than the actual thing and adorned in sandy-blonde fur, collided with Meiss and sent him flying. The blonde sailed towards Roswaal's house, he slammed into the stone wall and it broke apart. Meiss recovered quickly, reaching his hand out and using acedia to rope Subaru into the building. Subaru yelled in pain as his leg was jerked suddenly. Meiss brought him into the building, but kept him in the air for a second as he looked for a place to put him.

"Ah, Suuuubaru-kun and Meiss-san?"

The two aliens simultaneously glanced at the bandaged Roswaal, then back at the hole in the wall, waiting for Garfiel to appear. Once more in unison, the two aliens slowly drew their gaze to Roswaal's sitting form, which was propped up by pillows. Or rather, not to Roswaal, but what he was reading.

"Oh, it seems like I was foooouuund out. Well, nothing I can do about that, we've already deviated."

Roswaal placed his black tome on the bed and closed his eyes peacefully, as if giving up. Meiss lowered Subaru, staring at the black book intensely. The clown seemed so nonchalant about it all. Meiss was so surprised that he wasn't even angry. Yet.

"Roswaal… Why do you-"

Then there was gritty darkness. Gasping, Meiss tried to inhale, only for his mouth to take in dirt. Coughing, hacking, and spitting, Meiss tried to remove the dirt. Shit shit, I can't breathe! Meiss tried to wiggle, the pressure of holding his breath mounting. He could stand holding his breath for about thirty seconds, maybe a minute if he really had to. Not that much time when digging through earth. Meiss had his pack pinned to the wall, he tried to push off of it once more and failed. The tomb! Meiss thought of how he cut through the stone with acedia in Echidna's dream. Sweating now, Meiss sent out every acedia he could muster. The seven burning rivers slammed against the stone, and slowly but surely, Meiss felt the brick melt. Not good enough! Faster, FASTER! In panic mode now, Meiss felt one of the acedias break through into strikingly cold air. He put all his effort into that one spot, it was just below his head.

"...Mpgh... guhg, fuggmph. GAHH!"

Breathing heavy, Meiss felt the back of his neck sink into molten rock. The blonde rested for a moment, happy to be breathing. Air, glorious air. Garfiel must have thrown this, it slammed into me like a semi-truck. Semi-truck… Meiss came to the realization that he had only survived because of stagno. The blonde's throat closed up, making his efforts for air seem useless to him. Subaru's dead… Does he need to consciously activate redo? Did we screw up? It's useless now… the bastard Garfiel was still there, I should ha-

"Meiss?"

Opening his eyes, Meiss saw the upside down forms of Rem and Emilia. The oni was looking at him curiously, and the half-elf was looking around. Oh… god… What do I say to them? Meiss' throat still wasn't working, so he couldn't say anything regardless. The blonde resumed the use of acedia, wincing as his burnt body moved. When there was a hole big enough, Meiss brought his singed arms to the wall and pulled himself out, not making any effort to land on his feet or knees. He just crumpled unceremoniously. Meiss layed there for a second, feeling Emilia and Rem trying to lift him to his feet.

"Meiss, we heard a commotion. What happened? Where's Subaru-kun?"

"Rem… He- we… Garfiel attacked us, so we ran back here."

Emilia looked at Meiss intensely for a second, before the color drained from her face. Rem saw this, and seemed to realize it too.

"Garfiel… He k-killed Subaru?"

Meiss let his head loll. This was confirmation for them.

Emilia and Meiss didn't even notice the ground a few yards away be split by wind magic. Rem did though, and peeked around the building. She saw Garfiel with the entirety of his ancestral return active. The gigantic blonde lion, with sinewy muscles and a flowing golden mane, swiped at Rem's sister.

"N-nee-sama?"

Meiss turned his head to Rem, who was peeking around the building. The oni suddenly dropped to the ground, silently crying. The blonde was holding an equally as teary Emilia, who he slowly guided to Rem. The half-elf sat down against the wall next to Rem, who retreated from watching to sit next to Emilia. Meiss looked at the two briefly, before looking at the groove in the earth created by Ram.

"There's… something I have to do…"

Meiss tried to move his burnt arms. Like the rest of him they hurt like hell, but like the rest of him they were usable. Sighing, Meiss felt his grief beginning to hit him harder. Why was I so slow. Why didn't I put a bubble around Subaru to begin with? Why did Garfiel attack? Why did he? What had we done to warrant that? Stepping out from the shelter of Roswaal's hut, Meiss stared down the golden lion. With that arm… This must be Garfiel. Meiss saw a polished stick stuck in the beast's flank. Someone was able to stab it. Meiss scanned the area, looking for anyone that could have done that. What he saw was a piece of cloth floating in the wind. Meiss recognised the frilly white and black cloth of Roswaal's maid uniforms. So it was Ram… How many is this guy going to kill? How many?! Meiss started to stalk towards the beast. Golden mane flowing, the lion turned to face him, letting loose a guttural roar.

"昴λ—!"

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Nope, you're not getting beast Garf vs Meiss, sorry. It would be in there, but there's no time. Truly, apologies for the late upload. See you next week.