A/N: Preview of CRIMSON (takes place in the latter half of the story).
.V.
Rising
(Years later …)
Kurai's been on the verge of death too many times. He's pathetic.
She lies there, breathing slow and shallow, because her ribs are broken and it must hurt. But she doesn't look anything like before. There's no desperation or fear, and she certainly doesn't look frail, even with all the gashes that cross her torso and limbs. Injured, but the way she holds herself is like a warrior, not a victim.
He wants to fucking slaughter the one who did this.
But she asked him not to. He can't help but obey.
"Vile," she says softly, sometime early in the night. The other human hasn't returned yet, but he will. He always does.
Kurai has her eyes open, staring at where Vile is curled up in the space between the dirty cot and the wall, his head resting by her shins. "What?" He doesn't even open his eyes. If he did, he might kill someone.
"Did you know my mother?"
Her voice is louder than a gunshot, even though the furnace on the other side of the room is loud and she's so weak right now that she can hardly whisper. His whole body stiffens, and he tilts his head towards her.
"What makes you say that?" he asks cautiously.
"You're breathing."
She says it with amusement in her tone, like she thinks he's adorable. The fact that she picks up on his annoyingly human habits is going to be the death of him. She can actually read him … just like Elise could. Not that he's overly surprised. She can read pretty much anyone. She's a degree short of being able to dominate the world on her days off.
"Why's it important?"
"Because my father never killed her or himself, and you're the one that wrote the letter."
She doesn't sound upset.
"How do you know?"
"You don't need to breathe."
Of course that would make it obvious for her. Freakin' genius kid.
"Fine, I knew her," he admits. Just like that, Kurai is laughing, and wheezing, and he sits up and panics a little. "Stop doing that!"
"I never thanked you," she says after she calms down.
"For shifting the blame onto your dad and getting your mom killed? Yeah, go ahead and thank me."
"No," Kurai smiles, and he sees the life in her bright, crimson eyes, "Thank you for staying with me."
He doesn't cry – he has no tear ducts. But if he lets out a dry sob, she doesn't call him out on it.