Black

Everything was black.

Mika could've sworn his eyes were open. But then, why couldn't he see? He needed to see in order to get to Yuu. And he needed to see Yuu, so therefore he needed to see.

He reached up to rub his eyes, but discovered his body had a feeling of weightlessness. It was like it was there but it wasn't there at the same time, he could tell that his body was there and how it was oriented, but he couldn't move his body at will, if he tried to move his hand, his orientation wouldn't move. He felt disconnected, like no matter how hard he actually tried to do something, it wasn't going to work. The command to move was still there, it registered in his brain, but it was like his limbs didn't acknowledge the command.

After experimenting with different limbs, he tried to visualize where he was and what he was doing. If he imagined himself upright, he suddenly was, he could feel the shift in weight and gravity's effect on his body. He tried again and imagined himself raising his right arm, and it worked, he could feel the shift in his movement to raise his hand.

He tried imagining himself moving forward, not walking, running, or swimming. But just moving. He moved through space like he was choosing in the direction he was falling. It was exactly like moving, but not like moving at all, he told his body where to move, and it moved. It wasn't instantaneous, but it wasn't drawn out either.

His mind's eye seemed to be drawing him towards something. He couldn't tell where it was, or what it was, or even if it really existed, he just had a sudden urge to go there. And even when he tried to resist it, he just moved more towards it, it was like he had no choice in the matter, like he would be drawn to it no matter what.

He could tell when he arrived at whatever had been drawing him closer because his body suddenly heated up, before there had been nothing, no hot no cold, like an absence of temperature. But whatever this was, it was hot. His mind's eye reached out to feel around for whatever it was that he couldn't see.

Suddenly, his hand met an object, it was cylindrical metal. But the most vexing thing about it was the fact that it was as cold as ice, the surrounding space was burning, it created quite a unique sensation. Mika made his hands explore the object, relieved that it didn't drift away from him as soon as he had hit it with his hand.

Upon closer examination, the object was not entirely cylindrical and varied in size, the largest part seemed to fan out and the entire object was hollow. It seemed straight and narrow at one end and at the other, it was blocky and still round.

Trying to figure out what this object was, Mika imagined himself opening his eyes, and seeing clearly, and it happened.

The world was just as black as he thought it was, maybe even darker because when you imagine something, you don't always imagine the worse. It was like he had stumbled into the void, there was nothing else and he almost willed his eyes shut before he remembered why they were opened in the first place.

He looked down at his hands and although he actually couldn't see his body, he could see what was in his hands. Such a simple item that he couldn't believe he hadn't already guessed.

A trumpet.

Suddenly, he felt the sensation of arms embracing him from behind and he jolted in surprise. He willed himself to turn and found smiling green eyes staring at him. But they were different than all of the other times that he had seen them. They seemed dull. Like all of the life and joy had been sucked out of them. They may have been smiling, but that was not what the person behind those eyes was feeling.

They say the eyes are windows to the soul, and if these eyes held any indication, Mika didn't want to see the person behind those eyes.

"Hey, hey Mika!" That was the voice that he recognized, that was the voice that was supposed to accompany those eyes but like the eyes, there was something faded, something missing. The words sounded happy and bubbly at first, but to a practiced ear, they were forced and ugly.

"Oi! Mika! What's wrong, Mika?" He could see the rest of the body now, it looked so painful. His body looked like it had been through a meat grinder and then hung out to dry. Horizontal and vertical slashed ran along every part of his body, blood still dripping from each wound. Then, there was one in the center of his stomach, one that was absolutely gushing blood, it seemed to spurt with a heartbeat that Mika knew was impossible in any normal world.

"But, you see here, this isn't a normal world, Mika. It's a world that you created. Everything here, everything here, is of your design. No one else's, only yours. Which is why I find this place a little unsettling, the Mika I know was bright and cheery, he had a bright and wonderful imagination. The Mika I knew would have an extravagant world, with every element thought through and put here with care. The Mika I knew wouldn't have created this desolate place with a trumpet and a memory of his best friend. No, you're not the Mika I knew."

"Y-Yuu-chan! No, please. That's not what this is. I may not be the Mika you remember, but you're not the Yuu-chan I remember either! You, you aren't like this! Trust me, I know you better than practically anyone else. I spent four years of my life, four years hoping and praying that you were alright, that you had gotten away. Finally, I get my reunion with you, and then you go and-and-and, then, you just go and- you just go and kill yourself? For them; people I don't even know!"

"Yes, and you know the reason that I was even in that position, Mika?" Yuu spat vehemently, "It's because of monsters like you! The vampires! They did this to me. You did this to me. It's all because of you. It was you who let Ferid drink your blood. It was you that suggested we try for the outside world. It was you who told me to run when I ran. It was you who did this to me! It was you that killed all of us." With every emphasized word, the ghost of Yuu punched a mangled finger at Mika's essence, causing more pain than would have been possible in his corporeal body.

Yuu seemed to float slightly backward, gesturing widely with his hands. Behind him, the bodies of every child form. He could see Akane and the others, all the night that everything had happened, their necks were torn open, and their bodies so pale they were gray.

Then, they started to change. Their hair thinned and began to fall out, and their eyes became increasingly concave. The skin around them seemed to tighten, their faces becoming one step away from just skulls. Mika could see the ribcage of Yuu, with his skin so tight it looked like he hadn't eaten a thing from the day he had been born.

Their skin started to tear, allowing a rust colored powder to spill from their bodies into empty space. Their hair falling in gruesome clumps, and their eyes dulling and deadening.

Mika tried to will his eyes shut, to stop whatever this was, to make it all go away.

"Come now, Mika." The children all said in unison it was their normal everyday voice, full of laughter and cheer, which was probably more terrifying than anything else. "Don't turn away on us now, not after all you've done for us. Come on, let's have fun together one more time now before we fade away."

Mika started to panic, trying to get away from whatever they were, but whenever he moved, they seemed to follow him, just standing there and in unison, they all raised their arms in a show of love and forgiveness. There was no way that he was going to hug them, after all, they were just figments of his imagination, they weren't really there.

"Mika, do you really think we aren't here? We exist in this world of your creation. So, right now, we are as real as you."

Mika tried to grip his head in his hands, but in the panic, he couldn't concentrate enough to actually will it to happen. The bodies disappeared, but their voices now seemed all around him, berating him at every turn, never letting up, they seemed to be inside his head.

The feeling of his chest began to constrict, suffocating him in his terror. The children draped themselves over and around his body, their voices reverberating throughout his mind. His breathing became shorter and shorter, as the voices became louder and louder, drowning him in their voices. There was no need to breathe when they surrounded him, there was only their voices.

The trumpet was still cold in his hand, the surrounding air still burning hot, but the contrast seemed to become more and more apparent. The metal began to get colder, and the air began to get hotter, a sort of insistent throb resounded through it, calling him further. It willed Mika to raise the trumpet to his lips, Mika didn't want any of this, he just wanted for the world to be normal again.

He tried to resist whatever it was that was telling him that he needed to blow the trumpet but to no avail. The trumpet resounded throughout the void, echoing off of unseen walls. It went away and came back, growing in volume and there was a throbbing that accompanied the sound that grew and shook his bones. A throbbing not unlike a heartbeat, whatever this was, it was alive.

With all of this happening, Mika managed to shut his eyes against it. He tried to will the trumpet away, but he found he could not, and suddenly, it all went quiet.

He felt a white-hot pain around his shoulder blades like there was something like a spear was stuck there. It felt like there had been acid sprayed in his eyes, they were burning even when he tried to blink them away. His legs felt like they had been wading through molasses for hours.

But his arms, they felt like they were leaden with over two hundred pounds. There was the burning ache of overuse in them, and he knew there was something in them, but he didn't know what. He found that he could move of his own free will now, but he didn't drop whatever he was carrying, there was something in his subconscious that warned him not to, no matter how hard it burned, and no matter how heavy his burden became, he could not drop it.

Forcing his eyes open through the pain, he was able to look at his surrounding area. He was no longer in the red room. Instead, he was in what seemed to be a hallway, the arches reached up from the floor to the ceiling, seemingly for decoration only. The hallway reached far into the distance, so much so that it seemed enveloped in darkness.

Feeling the ache in his arms, Mika looked down and almost screamed. It was Yuu. His Yuu. Only, it wasn't. His Yuu wasn't this pale. His Yuu was always smiling. His Yuu didn't look helpless, and limp. His Yuu always had this bright twinkle in his eye, a twinkle that proclaimed that he had a plan, he was always planning something.

But this wasn't his Yuu, Yuu would never go to sleep before him and the other kids, he would stay up long hours making sure that everyone was there and quietly asleep before indulging himself, making sure the others got their food before he ate. No, his Yuu would likely never wake again, no matter what Mika could do, and that made his heart freeze.

He let out a scream filled with all of his anguish, all of his heartbreak, he had finally found his friend again, and look at what had become of him. The scream didn't even sound human anymore, it wasn't his scream. And that was the moment he realized that what he had feared for four long years was true. He had become a monster.

It was all his fault this mess, nothing would have happened if that day four years ago, he had just given up.

But no, what was he thinking? This wasn't his fault. It was the human's.

It was the humans that had stuck their nose where it didn't belong. It was the humans that had gotten themselves and Yuu captured. It was their fault that he had to carry his last friend's lifeless body through this hallway. It was all their fault and he wasn't going to let them interfere more than they had already.

But it was also the vampire's fault. It was their fault for infecting the world, it was their fault that the humans reacted this way. It was their fault that he had become a monster meant to torture his only friend. He would kill them, he would kill anyone who stood in his way. He would make the world feel what he was feeling.

His vision darkened once more in a reaction to his sudden resolve. This time he was okay with it, he would surrender to the monster within him. Before his vision went completely black, he saw the hallway widen into a room, and three figures stood in his way. Before he was completely gone, he let a smile slip.