14. Vampire
((Author's Note: Also known as the Code Vein fusion AU. Content warnings for the game also apply for this fic.))
Chrom wakes up to blood in his mouth, and a strange hunger churning through his body. It all conspires together to parch his throat.
"You awaken." His eyes don't work right, either. They blur in and out, refusing to focus on the bright, silver haired woman hovering over him.
"What…?" He gasps out, barely getting the word out through the dryness clutching his throat and coating his lips. "What… Happened-?"
A hand touches his chest, before his heart can start pounding too hard. Something about the gesture is oddly soothing… And it still a strange sensation, trying to coil up in his chest. It's not altogether pleasant, either; like there's a weird pressure, or something squirming in his heart each time he tries to breathe-
"It's okay…" The figure speaks to him, in a woman's voice. She sounds hushed, oddly subdued. "I'm not certain entirely what happened… But we'll be safe for now. And I promise that I'll keep you safe."
As quiet as her voice is, there's still steel in it; that she'll make sure her words are truth. And confused as he is, there's something familiar to this person. Something comforting. Something that helps him breathe easily, and feel like he's in the company of a friend.
"Ro…Bin." He wheezes, the name coming to his lips. That name also helps focus his eyes. He stares up at her, the white of her hair being the one bright point in a strange, churning hellscape. He pulls himself up into a seated position, taking in the surroundings. Ruined buildings frame the sky and the churning black clouds. Stranger still are the punishing metallic thorns that jam out of the skyscrapers, reaching out and upwards like black and gold fangs.
"Can you stand?" Robin pulls his attention back to the immediate problem; namely, the strange, shuddering that clings to his limbs, and a weakness that seeps from his throat down into the rest of his body. Nevertheless, when Robin asks him, he's still willing to try. Chrom pitches forward from where he sits, onto his hands and knees.
Shards of broken glass litter the streets, offering the faintest ghost of reflections. Through them, he can see a strange red clinging to the edges of his eyes… And a black snarl of lines twisting across his face, like his own skin is made of porcelain, and that cracks are beginning to show across it.
"Easy, Chrom." Robin speaks again. "One step at a time… And then hopefully we can find some shelter."
-o-o-o-
As it turns out, shelter isn't very far at all. Which is a good thing, as Chrom can barely manage more than a few steps. It's mainly the sight of their shelter that keeps him going, that cuts through the fatigue trying to drag him down.
A silver twist of tree curls up from the ruined city, acting like a beacon for him to move forward. He hasn't needed to slump against Robin yet, but she still sticks beside him, until at last they come a rest near the roots-
And something grips him; a sudden flash of madness and nightmare playing across his head. Robin gives a pained noise as well, like she's in the throes of a sudden nightmare; he sees a phantom image, a person that almost looks like her, but with blackened eyes standing over him…
His lips curl back, baring his teeth. He can feel fangs nip at his lips, and something about that vision makes him WANT to lash out. To bite and sink his teeth into the nearest threat, until it stops moving. Robin wheezes beside him, and he can see her bringing her own too-sharp teeth to bare. Seeing them on another person, they look almost like a monster's teeth.
Like they're both somehow less than human.
Chrom bristles, wondering if she's about to turn on him-
Instead, Robin bites into her own palm, drawing droplets of red and letting them dribble along the pale roots of the tree. The smell of blood almost drives Chrom mad, sets his heart to hammering and pulsing, makes something in him scream out for some of his own…
…And he doesn't want to turn on Robin. Chrom instead follows her lead, biting into his own palm, letting his blood spill and stain the ground with specks of scarlet. His hand burns like it's been cut and stuck by a collection of knives. And yet, the taste also does something to him. It slows the madness trying to burn through him, if only for a heartbeat. He tastes iron on his tongue… And then something brushes the top of his head.
His first reaction is a bristle and a flinch, certain that something is about to hook claws into him. The next moment, he feels branches brush against his hair. Their touch is scratchy, but nothing that's going to gore or threaten him.
The touch also draws his eyes up, to see a strange, semi-transparent droplet growing from the tree. Almost like a strange fruit. Chrom feebly reaches up, and plucks the item from the tree. It warms his skin, and even the punctures digging into his palm seem to ease and heal over.
It banishes the roil in his brain and chest. He spots another of the odd beads within reach, and plucks that as well. He quickly holds it out to Robin, murmuring soft words to try and get her attention.
"H-hey. This'll help." Even if he doesn't fully understand why… But Robin at least takes the object, and the frenzy fades from her eyes, leaving them a less vivid red.
Chrom doesn't get to dwell on it for long, before feeling the compulsion to bite again. This time, red floods his mouth, a deluge that drowns out the frenzy that tried to grip him. He just glimpses Robin doing the same, draining the odd bead of all its red, letting none of it go to waste.
"Thank you, Chrom…" She murmurs, wiping a few droplets away, only to hungrily lick her fingers. It's a strange sight… But he also feels strangely comforted, knowing they aren't at risk with whatever madness tried to grip them.
-o-o-o-
He finds a sudden sense of peace, curled against Robin. And she seems to find the same, as she smooths out his hair. They stay nestled against the roots of the tree, letting it be their one solid thing in the midst of so much chaos.
Robin breathes a little easier, after taking that odd bead of blood. She keeps her hands on him, one stroking and petting through his hair, the other touching at his fingers.
"…I don't remember anything." Chrom tells her. "At least, nothing concrete; just weird flashes of images. Vague sensations. All of them painful." He scrunches his face at that. It's almost like he came back from the dead, and whatever killed him still lingers in his chest and tries to make his thoughts feverish.
Though it certainly feels like their surroundings are a match, for whatever turmoil is churning through them. The skies overhead still swirl with dark clouds, lit here and there with sparks of red. It's almost like the world around them is also bleeding. And still, those strange thorns break up the city all around them… Though the more he looks at them, the more Chrom also wonders if they resemble fangs, with veins of gold and violet running them.
Robin follows his gaze, taking in the strange place once again. Now that she's out of the grip of frenzy, he takes in the color of her eyes; they look more like gold, almost an unnerving match for the thorns.
"A-And neither do I…" Robin says at last. "We're a match, for having blanks in our heads. All I know is that I want to keep you safe."
"Same here." Chrom tells her, and finds his hand tightening over hers. Unnerving as the situation is, facing it alone, with something happening to Robin, is even worse. He feels his fingers all tremble, like there's something else waiting right beneath his skin, as his strength slowly flows back into him. "But I feel like I-"
"…Like you're the luckiest Revenant alive?" He freezes; the voice that reaches him is rough. It belongs to someone clad in a mask, standing over him and Robin… And leveling a long bladed bayonet on Chrom's throat. "Sorry to break it to you, buddy… But that's ME. Two new thralls, it must be my lucky day."
The stranger gives a dark chuckle at that, staring at them through large gaunt circular lenses set in his mask; they serve to give him a hungry look.
"You're taking both of them? C'mon, Garrick." Whines another stranger at the man's side. Garrick rounds on him, instantly silencing his lacky.
"Keep your trap shut. I'M the leader here, until Gangrel or Validar haul their sorry, rotting corpses back. And we'll have quite the offering when they do."
-o-o-o-
Chrom gets a mask slammed over his face before he gets a chance to protest, or so much as snarl. He gags against the musty smell and taste of the mask, but the steel surface stays latched over his mouth, almost like a muzzle. And before he can think of fighting, of tapping that wild energy he'd felt… Robin gets seized up as well. Chrom freezes at that, and that moment of shock is all Garrick needs; he makes a curt gesture. One of Garrick's lackeys digs his clawed gloves into Chrom's arms, and locks them behind Chrom's back.
"Time to start marching; I want to get out of here, before the miasma gets worse." Garrick tells them.
They're sent moving into the ruined city, putting the white tree to their backs. Garrick strips the tree of any more of those odd beads; even through the thick glasses of his mask, Chrom can see a greedy glee in his eyes.
And if Chrom is unsteady… The same doesn't go for Robin. She resists every step of the way. But Garrick keeps a tight grip on her, digging his fingers into her hair and twisting his hands against her head. Holding her under his mercy. It banishes that panic Chrom felt, shoots heat into his veins, clouds his vision, and he's almost ready to chew through his mask.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Garrick glances over his shoulder. "Unless you want the miasma to eat you inside out. You'd made a decent enough monster… But it's be a waste of manpower. Lemme get a few days of good work out of you first-"
As he speaks to Chrom, he keeps his eyes off Robin. And so he doesn't notice Robin's hands flashing up, until she has one hand clapped over the fingers on her head, and drives her elbow into his arm. Garrick flinches from the attack with a curse, as Robin struggles in his grip. She whirls when Garrick staggers, letting him yank strands of her hair out, as she claws at his neck.
"You stupid bi-!" Garrick gets the air knocked out of his throat and mouth. His eyes blaze red, and he draws his weapon, ready to drive it down on Robin. "Kill her or break her, I don't care!"
His first lacky gets yanked forward on those orders… And so Chrom doesn't hesitate to pounce on the man, driving him headfirst into the ground. The man's mask shatters on impact, a matching snap goes along his neck, and he goes limp under Chrom.
He should feel sick at that, Chrom thinks. He just snuffed out a man's life as easily as blowing out a candle. Instead, he tightens his fingers on the man's throat, feels the body dissolve away into ash. Chrom lifts his head as the glowing motes swirl about him, and glares up at the remaining targets. His heart thrums, like its feeding off the violence, and pumping a feeling of bloodlust through him.
Maybe this is what Robin feels, and why she's been fighting the entire time.
"Not happening." He snarls at Garrick. And he notices how Garrick is snarling back, showing his teeth… Because in the struggle, Robin has managed to tear his mask free from his face. And as he hyperventilates, a black ripple spreads across Garrick's face.
"You… You damned fools…!" He seethes. "I'll show you what happens when you- whhhhn-" His voice goes raspy. But that doesn't stop him from whirling on Robin, ready to skewer her. Robin has to dance away, losing the element of surprise and unable to fight Garrick with just her hands. Garrick's bayonet lashes about, while his arm pulses and writhes. There's a thick metallic scent in the air, as his arm starts to twist; the muscles swell like pustules, wrapping over the weapon and turning it into a crude claw, almost grafted onto Garrick's limb.
'You'd make a decent enough monster.' He remembers Garrick's taunt… Except now, the words have been turned back on Garrick. He's lost his voice, settling for a roar as he lashes about. Robin keeps needing to dodge back… But she's at least faster than Garrick's other lacky; the man doesn't move fast enough, and gets bisected by Garrick's new claw. More motes of glowing ash swirl about, adding themselves to the miasma.
As he watches, Chrom goes for the dropped weapon from his enemy, and finds a strange blade in the man's grip.
It's not much, but it's enough to go against Garrick. And not a moment too soon, as Garrick lurches forward, and catches Robin with a backhanded strike. He winces from the impact; even if she doesn't take the full force of the blade, Robin still goes flying from the impact, rolling along the shattered ground. She skids past Chrom as she's knocked aside, and that sight throws him forward. He blocks Garrick's next strike with his salvaged blade. The bayonet clashes against the sword, making all the strange components in the weapon rattle; there's vials and vein like engravings all set into the sword. Yet they hold against the strikes, even while Chrom's arms rattle from the hits.
There's a strength behind Garrick's swings that can't be human. But there's also something building up in his own body, that feels like a match for the monster in front of him.
Garrick keeps slashing away, not giving Chrom any room to counter; he can only hold fast against the assault. But a few feet away from the clash, he can just pick out Robin pulling herself back up. She fastens her eyes on Garrick, her hand wrapping around a steel pipe amidst the wreckage. And right as Garrick keeps trying to skewer Chrom, she rushes his blind side… And manages to crack the pipe across Garrick's head.
It should drop him… But Garrick only slumps forward. The red of his eyes seems to burn through his face. And when he lifts his head, the black scar lines take over his face.
"So that's what he meant, about the miasma." Chrom says, holding his ground even as the monster throws itself at him. Claws erupt from Garrick's hands, and his mouth is all shark-like teeth. He brings his twisted hand into the fight as well, lashing at Chrom with his new talons. But as he claws at Chrom, he opens himself up to one counter attack.
And Chrom intends to use that opening; he knows he likely won't get another chance. Strength burns through his arms and heart, driving him onward and giving his sword swing an extra bite.
The claws catch Chrom across his mask, even as he slams the blade through Garrick's chest, and sends the monster reeling back. Robin snaps up, glaring as Garrick's blood splatters across the street.. And beyond her mask, he can see a glow of bloodlust in her eyes… Like she's reacting to Garrick's shed blood.
He can feel a strange haze cover his own thoughts as well. His jaw gives another crackle, wanting to gape wide… And do something about that wasted blood, splattering and staining the street. He and Robin aren't the only things reacting to the bloodshed, either.
All the thorns seem to twitch as her eyes burn, shedding dust and fragments of concrete… And looking almost like teeth, chewing at the air in answer to Robin's glare.
Garrick's twisted face snarls as he strains against the stab wound, trying to bite down at Chrom. With a frenzied howl of her own, Robin throws herself straight into Garrick's throat. She drops her improvised weapon, reaching out with her bare hands-
…Except those hands aren't so bare any longer. Something long and metallic glints across her hands, like she's sprouted strange fangs along her fingers. And they easily plunge into Garrick, going blood red and almost glowing as they drink up his life. Chrom feels a similar burn along his arms, and looks down at his hands. His bloodlust fades for an instant, as he sees the metal coating his own hands. But the next moment, Chrom's shock fades; he moves almost on instinct, his hands biting into Garrick as well. His new artificial claws also drink up Garrick's blood, slacking the strange craving that burns through him.
Together, their combined attack sends the monster staggering back. Straight into the thorns reaching from the buildings.
Garrick's eyes go wide, turning into red gouges set in his face. His mouth opens, as he coughs and hacks up red ichor. Garrick claws at his chest, where the long metallic thorn pierces through his heart. His monstrous form melts away from the bite of the thorns; like they're eating away at his wild side. Almost like fangs of some giant monster.
"Fangs…" Chrom murmurs, the words boiling up in his brain. "The fangs of…"
"…Of Grima." Robin finishes for him. But Garrick can't even manage that, as he turns to ash, the thorns eating even that up.
"That… That takes… Care of him-" Chrom tries to say… But his own breath is starting to wheeze out. His hands go up to his mask, and with a lurch, he realizes that the filters and tubes are completely shredded, leaving him to breathe in the poisoned air.
And he's been breathing it all through the fight. Chrom staggers, falling forward as the world spins around him-
"Chrom? CHROM!" He can faintly hear Robin, as his limbs start to shiver. How long, he wonders, before he starts to twist up like Garrick. But that feverish thought is cut short, when a pair of hands grab his face and force it up.
"You won't die. You won't become Lost. Because I won't allow it." Robin's voice echoes with power, piercing even the haze and pain cloaking his body and brain. Her hand cups his face, almost gentle at first… Until she pushes her palm against his mouth, and slices it open against the edges of his fangs.
Chrom gives a startled gasp at that… And at how the haze seems to evaporate in his mind. His body stops trembling as well, the transformations fading away beneath his flesh.
"Wh… What did you just do?" He stares up at Robin, but she only gives a relieved sigh.
"I… I never felt any pain from miasma, even as we walked to the tree." She tells him. "So I thought, perhaps I could share that affinity with you."
Chrom can only nod, hands going up to his face and feeling the ashen marks fading away from his face.
"A-at least you're alive." Robin finishes. "And I think…" She lifts her head, to the ruins, and a strange cathedral structure beyond the broken buildings. "We might be able to find help, out over there. If you think you can make it?"
There's something about that structure that teases at his memories… And even suggests another name. This time, it's the word 'Shepherds.' And it doesn't fill him with the same dread as 'Grima.' It helps to banish the lingering dread and terror from the sudden battle.
"If it gets us answers, and keeps you alive… Then yes." Chrom tells her. He feels a little broken, a little torn and pulled through the wringer… But still ready to stand and walk alongside Robin.
"You're not the only one who wants to keep her partner safe." He tells Robin. "We… Are partners, right?"
"After how much we just fought for the other, I hope so." Robin tells him. And a part of him is glad he's lost the mask, since he can smile at her now. Robin tightens her grip around him, gently pulling Chrom forward, helping him outpace the scent of blood in the air. With a swallow, he's able to banish some of the metallic taste in his throat, and he doesn't feel that parched quality in his mouth any longer.
It's enough for now, Chrom tells himself. That however mad and bloodthirsty the world might be, he doesn't have to face it alone. And his companion doesn't seem to mind the fangs in his smile.