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A Castle of Silence and Bones

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008.
for this is a gift from above.
(there is no time and place that you will ever be able to run from.)

He runs, haphazardly - as if through a dream - across the whole of the palace, looking for Yao. He hears the other's name, echoing across the corridors, and it's only after the fifth time, when he simply grabs a vase and smashes it on the closest wall, does he realize it was his voice, repeating across the halls.

And by then, the vase has already shattered - into a thousand sparkling pieces.

Instantly, he's reminded of Yao's reaction to the food dishes (and how long as it been? two months? three?)

"Kiku-sama," one of the castle maids approaches, timid and soft-spoken, "One of the monitors have been showing the sound of running water... perhaps the person that you are looking for is in the West Wing?"

"Thank you," he breathes out, before hurrying towards the West Wing. It was the chamber of the previous Emperor - and his mistresses. Of course, being the child of God himself, it gave him many priveleges (many women), but - ? Doesn't matter; the previous Emperor is long gone, long dead (with his troops and palaces and mistresses), and what matters right now is -

"Yao!" he finds his strangled voice calling out, hand reaching out in some foolish semblance of humility (ridiculous, he knows, because it is Yao who should be humiliated here). "What are you..." He trails off, eyes following the leaking water, from the Westernized tub. His footsteps slow - without his conscious knowledge - as he nears the inner chambers of the room.

It is there that he finds Yao, completely clothed and entirely submerged in an already-overfilled tub.

The water cascades over the edges of the tub, pools over the tiles of the floor, and makes its way over the length of the bathroom, and into the wooden portions of the chamber.

"Yao," he repeats. Eyelids flutter; his heart jumps a beat (careful, restrain yourself, any closer - any farther). He steadies himself before advancing any further, because it would not do to 'lose' here - would not do to lose anywhere. Yao opens his eyes completely when Kiku is inches away from the edge of the tub, fingers twitching, moving forward, and still not grasping.

There is a dry, hacking cough - it comes from Yao.

Immediately, he's pulling the other out of the tub. Kiku is no doctor, but the blood that is staining Yao's hands, dying the water that light shade of pink, it can't possibly be a good sign. 'What's the matter? What's wrong?' he remembers asking, in his own tongue, because Yao can understand, can't he? Of course he can understand - that solution was supposed to, definitely had, a 100% success rate.

There is a flash of gold in Yao's eyes, a color which Kiku cannot remember from their previous 'sessions', and then the other is wrapping bloodied hands about his neck, pulling him closecloseclose and -

"This is all your fault," Yao hisses.

His mind panicks, scrambles, even while he's tasting the blood from Yao's lips - from Yao's mouth. The drug was completely effective, without a doubt. The drug was - is - should be...

(You never believed it for a second.)

And then the world fades away.

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