Blood Tears,

Chapter Three:

Tears of Blood

Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King, but I do own Nekros. Nyah.

Notes: Happy Christmahanakwanzaka!

Faust stumbled into his room later that night, holding his head and wondering what exactly had happened. One moment he was taking a walk through the graveyard, the next… He couldn't remember… It was all a blur, how did he get back? How come he didn't realize he had left the cemetery? Faust ran his had through his hair in an effort to calm himself a bit. Then his hand grazed his neck and he froze, feeling the twin puncture wounds there.

"No…" he gasped out, voice quiet in shock. It couldn't be! He ran to his mirror, looking at his neck closely. Unfortunately it was. Faust supposed that it made sense; he had been walking through the older parts of the cemetery… But surely he would remember being attacked! But he still had no idea what happened… He remembered being chased… Faust shook his head sadly. His memory had probably been erased, it was no use.

Faust had never felt so totally lost and alone since Eliza died. His eyes welled up, slowly spilling over. Faust looked up at his mirror again, and then he jumped back in shock. His tears were not normal tears…they were tears of blood. He furiously rubbed his face, trying in fright to get rid of it. Not just the blood, but the nightmare that his life was slowly becoming. He stopped, breathing heavily.

"Why? Why me?" He asked quietly to his ceiling. "What have I done to deserve this? I am already cursed!" He must have said that last part louder than he thought, for someone was knocking on his door. Rather loudly as well, he might add.

"Keep it down in there Faust! Some of us are trying to sleep!" Apparently it was Ren, yelling at him for something as usual. Though it was rather rude, Faust kept silent as asked. After all, it wasn't as if there was anyone he could talk to about this. Faust started to cry again, slumped against his wall like he had been for the past few minutes. This time, he didn't even try to wipe the tears away.

The next morning, Faust opened his eyes to see his reflection staring back at him. He instantly scrambled away if fright. His face had twin bloodstains on it that ran right into his previously white coat. The bags under Faust's eyes seemed more pronounced than usual, and his skin was paler, creating a stark contrast. The overall effect was that it seemed he had died overnight. Faust's eyes had the dull clouded look that was only found in corpses. Even his hair seemed paler, more lifeless. He started to breathe erratically.

"This can't be happening…" He gasped, still shocked by his appearance. It was as if he had turned into a totally different person. A person he didn't know. A person he didn't want to know. Not now, not ever. Faust couldn't break his eyes from the mirror. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't break himself away. He grabbed one of his many heavy books, and heaved it at the image that tormented him so. The glass shattered as expected. However, when Faust looked down, he saw that each shard held another reflection. They seemed to look up at him with mocking smirks. Faust covered his eyes, shaking with emotion.

"Leave me alone!" He shouted, slamming his hands down upon the many shards, watching as the glass cut deep into his hands. He watched as he lifted those hands, and saw that they weren't bleeding. It was as if he was having a nightmare, or as if he were watching the darkest of horror movies. Either way, it didn't quite seem like it was real. There was no way it could be. Was there?

He had to get away! He had to escape this! Faust threw open his door, slamming it shut behind him, breathing raggedly. Ren walked by, glaring as usual, but Faust didn't notice him even though his eyes were wide open. Almost past their furthest extent. He just stood there and shook, his frazzled nerves sorting themselves out. Apparently Ren noticed this, for he paused mid-step and turned around, his eyes gazing down at the doctor.

"What's wrong with you now? And why the hell are you bleeding? One of your experiments fail?" Ren smirked coldly.

Faust looked down at his hands hopefully, wondering if maybe it was a dream, and that he was awake now, but there was still no blood welling up from his cuts. His face fell from the solidity of everything now. He was truly like this. After all, meeting another person usually let Faust see things as they really were; breaking him from the elaborate scenes he so often painted for himself.

"Experiment?" He heard himself saying, "Maybe I'm just someone else's…" He turned his gaze to the boy in front of him. "And I'm not bleeding... See?" Faust held his horribly gouged hands up to Ren for proof. The color instantly drained from the boy's face.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Freak!" Ren turned away, hurrying down to his room, slamming his door shut loudly as soon as he entered it.

The door of the room next to Faust's opened at almost exactly the same second that Ren's closed, and Ryu stepped out.

"What was that?" Apparently he had been listening to everything.

"N-nothing Ryu." Why was he stuttering?

Ryu frowned.

"It wasn't 'nothing'. He said you were bleeding…And you were." Ryu pointed to Faust's coat and face, which were still bloodstained.

Faust rubbed at his eyes, and tried to assure Ryu that he was alright, but to no avail.

"Well, you look a bit shaken up anyway… Maybe if you ate something you would feel better…?"

Faust nodded in agreement, if only to be alone for a while. As he lost sight of Ryu, he slowly sank to the floor to think this through. Everything added up didn't it? The cemetery…the bite marks…the blood whenever he cried…his dead appearance…And now the strange bloodless cuts on his hands. He looked down at his palms, but the only thing that was cut was his gloves. Faust hurriedly turned his hands over, but it was the same on the other side too. How could he have possibly healed that quickly? He shook his head. This was something that was going to take some getting used to… There weren't even any scars! Faust supposed the only thing that Ryu had noticed were the shredded remains of his gloves, so he guessed that was a good thing.

By the time Faust had come to the conclusion that, yes, it was a good thing, Ryu had returned. He held a bowl of what appeared to be soup, which Faust accepted gratefully. But when he raised the first spoonful to his mouth, he realized that he couldn't swallow it. It felt as if his body was refusing to take it in, that his throat had closed up on him. After a few moments he managed to get it down, and he regretted it instantly. It seemed to scald its way down, leaving him with the feeling that his insides were on fire.

Ryu noticed his peculiar expression.

"Hey, what is it?"

"Ryu, what's in this?" Faust grimaced; he wished he hadn't sounded quite so harsh… But Ryu proceeded to list the ingredients.

"…and garlic" he finished, frowning. "Why?"

Faust was silent a moment. "Well, I seem to be allergic to garlic." An unspoken 'now' hung on the air.

"Oh, I didn't know that, or I wouldn't have-"

"Well, I didn't know it either." Faust laughed quietly.

"I guess you're right…But I still feel sorry." Ryu sighed.

"Just go back to whatever you were doing Ryu." Faust grimaced. "And I'll go back to what I'm best at…"

"What's that?"

Faust looked up, his eyes blank.

"Never you mind…" He let him self trail off and returned to his room, leaving Ryu to walk disappointedly back to his.