Title: New Breed: DOG BYTE
Summary: Sometimes, love is displayed by moral execution. Brutality becomes a mask; the goggles are merely a security factor to strengthen his resolve. [GORE-PRONE MATT-CENTRIC!]
Disclaimer: I don't own DN or anything referenced.
Author's Note: Another short chapter. No Matt or Mello in this, oddly. But I like this chapter. And I should be able to get back to MxM in the next one.
...
Dark soulless eyes peered around as their owner lurked with slow purposeful steps: his stride almost cautious. Shoulders hunched, he stepped further into the room, barefoot as his feet moved between masses of warm blanket and chilled concrete flooring, soundless.
He stopped mid-step, foot raised before he pressed the arch of one foot to the ankle of the other, curling his toes and using his nails to scratch a patch of dry skin.
Stilling himself, he truly took in the room, closing his eyes and acknowledging the musky scent that always seemed to linger and varied only slightly from day to day; he took in the sounds of breath being drawn and expelled, blankets ruffling, feet and hands sliding along the floor due to fitful sleepers.
Everything was empty, cold, cement. A stone box magnified until it was big enough to comfortably hold his crew.
Because, the barrage of young men and women were definitely his crew. His family. His own living system of support and stability.
Several members of Kennel Corp were out and prowling about the city as per their nightly whim, while quite a few others were occupying the game room and just as many -if not more- were curling up on and under the piles of blankets, body to body, some draped over one another in an effort be either warm or comforted or some cross-breed of the two.
The way they all piled together, there was a sense of closeness that stretched beyond physical boundaries. People could only get this close after forming trusting bonds and a fair amount of honest care towards one another. This sort of comfort, too basic and pure for the shoddy and malignant outside world, could only be shared and understood amongst themselves.
Everyone in Kennel Corp knew this to an extent: knew how to love like family and rely on one another with a broader intensity: knew to put faith in each other where the rest of the world had failed and rejected them.
The leader of this group, a dark-haired and dark-eyed onlooker, kept his eyes closed as he mentally tuned into the sheer number of varying breaths and gasps and wheezes that fell through the lips of his companions. With only his ears, he assessed the number of occupants in the dank room. He stepped over a few bodies and made his way to the far side of the room where he could be just beyond the throng of unconscious strays, pressing his back to the wall and sliding down to sit with his knees drawn. His gaze empty and dark rings of insomnia pooling beneath his eyes, he steeled himself and honed his focus, unseeingly taking everything in: the cesspool of bodies entangled on the floor in jest of familial bonding.
Like a litter of pups, fresh from the womb and desiring little more than survival.
This dark-haired observer twitched his fingers and kept his dark clouded eyes focused on nothing, using his other senses to detect any and all signs of even the slightest movements.
A shadow crept into the room seconds before its tangible counterpart.
With a silent breath, the observer noted the intrusion. His lips pursed, eyes narrowed, ears listening intently.
The intruder's appearance was not unlike the observer. Both with dark hair; both with simple attire, similar builds. A stranger might assume them to be related by blood rather than by choice.
But choice was always so much stronger than blood.
This intruder, with impossibly red irises gleaming in contrast to his pale skin and dark mane, ghosted in with light and easy steps that displayed his catlike grace behind his shadow, dropping onto all fours and preying between the sleeping masses of youngsters.
"L," the intruder said with a polite whisper and a smirk. "Good to see you."
"I wish I could say the same, Beyond," the observer sardonically greeted in turn, dark owlish eyes never seeming to need the moisture that could be provided by blinking. Those eyes, so dark, so empty, so... sightless. Not just in the dark, but equally useless in the light, though he refused to let it be a hindrance. His own sight was long gone and hardly a memory. "Beyond, you were out late," he said with a dry tone.
"L, I was-" Beyond attempted to soothe, but his conquest ended as surely as it had begun. Anything he'd wanted to say to his fellow Kennel-dweller pulled a vanishing act before it could even be processed. Then, his gaze dropped to the sleeping form of a familiar blonde that rested easily. Beyond slipped onto his knees into a kneeling position and lightly ran his fingers through blonde silken locks. "Mello looks so peaceful when he sleeps," he mused, a grin stretching between his lips.
"Don't wake him, Beyond," L scolded knowingly; his voice was monotonous but a hint of warning was there, somewhere between the way his breath hitched and his brow creased and his jaw tightened. "Let Mello rest."
"But I like him," Beyond said with a petulant pout, fingers continuing their gentle assault. He paused his ministrations and whipped his gaze back to L, red eyes wide and mouth gaping; his expression spoke of excitement, as if he'd just remembered something important. "L, have you met Dog Bite?"
L noted the sudden change in tone and the hitching breaths that Beyond exuded. He withheld any prospect of inquiry or answer, though with pursed lips he offered a soft grunt and raised a shoulder, not quite shrugging.
Beyond's eyes seemed to light up, wide and bloodshot as his face split with a manic grin. He gestured to the sleeping redhead next to the blonde. "Dog Bite," he said simply. "Killed a member of Fever Pitch last night."
L spared a curious glance in the general direction of Beyond, though nothing met his dead optical nerves. Still, he hunched forward, as if he wanted to get a better view.
Beyond caught on and eagerly began to describe him. "He's a redhead. Very young. Pretty, pale, with freckles. Big eyes." He paused and his voice while soft boasted with enthusiasm. "L, you'd love his eyes, so wide and expressive." His fingers flexed. "If I could, I'd cut them out and let you hold them. I know you'd love to feel them..." He trailed off, his voice getting softer and then drawing out with a strange unbidden desire that even L could not place. With a firm shake of his head- as if to jar his thoughts into a proper line of thinking- Beyond spoke again, tone firm. "Dog Bite is an outsider, L. Mello took him in, named him, and brought him here."
L's shoulders drew up, tense, at the word 'outsider.' Though he'd only heard the word, it left a taste of venom in his mouth. "Under what grounds? Outsiders are forbidden. Why would Mello-?" His eyes darted back and forth in panic while his body remained rooted to the spot. "Outsiders are not welcome," he finished sternly, gaze hardening and fingers curling into fists, nails biting into the flesh of his palms.
"Mello was outnumbered. Nine to one. Nine to two if you count Dog Bite," Beyond said eagerly, his gaze intensely focused on the older male. "As far as I know, Dog Bite poses no threat to the Kennel."
L's shoulders slumped and his spine arched; he rested his head back against the wall, eyes slipping closed and throat bared. "Kennel Corp is a haven... for strays. Mello would not bring in someone who doesn't belong," he said decisively.
Beyond opened his mouth to speak, though what he would have said was hard to guess. His usual talkative manner seemed to slip away as his head dropped, as if shamed. "I would give anything to restore your sight, L," he confessed with a harsh whisper. "And I'd give even more to restore your faith in humanity." With those words spoken in undeniably raw passion, Beyond left his post and crawled over the mass of sleeping individuals and made his way over to his superior and Kennel-mate. He sidled beside L, so close that their shoulders touched.
With a low voice, L spoke. "What I lack in sight, I make up for in understanding. I founded Kennel Corp to spare people from the animosity I've endured."
Beyond was quiet for a long moment as the air seemed to thicken. Slowly, he craned his neck to rest his head against L's shoulder. He breathed in the other's scent and just focused on the darkness, on the multiple eruptions of breathing that held the entirety of the cell-like room in rapture. He focused on L's presence and calm exterior, knowing deep down that surely L must be afraid, at least a little. "What's it like," he found himself whispering, "to be blind?" He hadn't meant to ask the question, but in the comforting heat of the other male, the question slipped.
L was quiet for a moment. That moment stretched into several, and Beyond was almost certain that L was going to ignore the question.
But L did speak, after an immeasurable amount of time.
"Imagine... the world as it is," L's voice held something deep, something precious and almost childlike despite the way that it was equally pensive.
Beyond closed his eyes and mentally painted his mind with the details he already knew by heart. The cement walls, patchwork blankets, and ragtag individuals he considered family. Against his will, he found himself smiling. "It's nice," Beyond said. "It feels like home to me."
L gave a single sharp nod before adding, voice straining... "Now, imagine it's all ripped away and replaced by blackness. You can open and close your eyes all you want, but the image never comes back. You can only feel the wall against your fingertips, the floor beneath your feet. You can hear the breathing and rustling... but you'll never see it. Never know the difference between hair and eye and skin color. And one day, you forget what color looks like. Nothing has color. Everything is either hard or soft, cold or warm. Never blue or red or anything."
Beyond kept his eyes closed as he listened intently, and something inside him clenched and ached. Then, before he could stop himself, he turned his head just a little and pressed his lips to L's neck in a gentle gesture of intimacy.
L gave no response to encourage Beyond, but L didn't push him away or verbally chastise him either.
...
More to come. I just wanted to get a blind L in there and show that there's more to Beyond than what I've already shown.