Song playlist: No One's Here to Sleep by Naught Boy ft Bastille
Chapter 12
Escape
/ɪˈskeɪp/
1. an act of breaking free from confinement or control
2. a form of temporary distraction from reality or routine
Day six.
Day six was the day Mika truly began to lose his mind.
Granted, day three had been particularly trying. That was the day Mika had resorted to filching the fireplace poker from the library. One second he was talking distractingly a mile per minute, leaning his weight casually against the iron rod, the next he had twirled it between his fingers and thrust into the vulnerable flesh of one of the guard's neck.
At least, needless to say, he had tried to. The guard hadn't even bothered to unsheathe his sword. Who on earth blocks a murder attempt with a single finger? Vampires, apparently, that's who.
The pat on his head had been less than amusing to Mika.
Now Mika paced around his bedroom in a relentless circle, the plush red carpet already wearing down from days of walking back and forth. With each failed attack the guards became more on guard, harder to fool, harder to escape.
"Is there even a way to escape from here?" Mika muttered to himself, scrubbing his hand down his face. Wasn't talking to yourself the first sign of insanity?
"Ow!"
His frustration made him scrub harder than intended, making him hiss as his fingernails scratched his cheeks. His hand lowered. Staring at his elongated nails made Mika's built up self-loathing well up like a tidal wave.
He hated himself for failing to protect his family. For leading them to their deaths like a smiling grim reaper. For being too naive, too stupid, too slow. And now he was trapped here, unable to escape, for the rest of his miserable life.
And the tidal wave crashed down.
Before he knew it, Mika was dragging his nails down the back of his hands, first somewhat tentatively, then bolder and harsher as he grew used to the scraping pain. His nails reached higher, clawing at the flesh of his arms in fast paced scratches that left jagged cuts in his skin.
Blood was pooling up the lines and trickling down like small rivers, purifying his tainted body of his filthy vampire blood.
It hurt. It hurt so bad. But Mika couldn't stop, caught in a horrifying agonising channel of release from everything.
Someone like him deserved to get hurt.
Mika's hands stopped to push his nails deeper in punishment, sinking into his upper arms.
All of a sudden the wall torches in his room flared up from their muted orange glow to a brilliant white light. Mika gasped and staggered back, his hands leaving his arms to shield his eyes from the blinding sheer whiteness. It was almost as if the light was…reproaching him, wanted him to stop?
As soon as the thought flitted through Mika's mind the white light died down, as if it had never existed. Mika slowly uncovered his face.
What had just happened?
The confusion melted away to something else, something static and flickering as he stared at the torches.
Something that felt dangerously like hope.
"Oi oi, he's back again," the right guard muttered to his partner. The two guards stood as diligent as ever, one in front of each side of the double doors. With their inhumanely still postures and hooded cowls shadowing their faces, they looked as imposing as a pair of twin Cerebuses.
Mika stopped himself from gulping as he approached them. Drawn in shoulders, lowered gaze, don't make eye contact. Look as non-threatening and submissive as possible. Living with his parents had taught him many tricks- the hard way rather than easy.
Out of the corner of his eye, Mika felt a swell of prickly anticipation as the guards' eyes tracked the lantern swinging in his hand.
"Mikaela Hyakuya," the left guard greeted in his monotone droll. Even he had begun to warm up a little after being pestered by Mika at least three times a day.
"What's this then?" the right guard asked much more cheerfully, as if Mika's antics were a perpetual source of amusement to him. "Are you going to try and set us on fire? Because the glass is unbreakable, you know."
"No," Mika said, shuffling a little in embarrassment. "It's just…I was wondering if maybe…you could check my lantern? It's kind of dim and hard to read with at night."
"Uh, sure kid," the right guard replied bemusedly. "Pass it here, won't you?"
Their fingers brushed as the lantern was lifted from Mika by its coiled metal handle. A beat passed. The guard hummed thoughtfully, lifting the lantern near his face to inspect it.
"These things are magic powered so we'd have to drop it by the mage guild to fix. We'll have someone send it down later today."
"What are you doing?" the left guard cut in sharply. His gaze hadn't moved from Mika, fixing him under his stony gaze.
"Nothing," Mika said confusedly. "I'm just standing here?"
Behind his back Mika had begun to scratch long and hard at his arms, shuffling his hands underneath his long sleeves.
"What are you hiding behind your back?"
"I'm not hiding anything," Mika assured. As if to prove his point, Mika crossed his arms in plain sight and looked back demurely at the left guard. He tried to subtly sink his nails into his upper arms as painfully as possible.
It definitely was hurting; so why wasn't it working?
"Mikaela Hyakuya, desist this harmful behaviour," the guard frowned severely. "Her Majesty will be displeased for her property to be damaged."
"I'm not doing anything at all," he evaded, like a soldier fighting a rapidly losing battle.
The right guard stopped his inspection of the lantern and lowered it, looking curiously between his partner and Mika. "What's going on here?"
No no no, he had to put the lantern close to him. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. Mika began gnaw his lip as he clawed at his arms, not caring anymore about the guards seeing.
"What the- what is he doing?!"
"Is this some kind of livestock practice?"
Blood was clotting underneath his nails, his flesh beginning to swell red and ugly.
"Come on, work dammit!" Why, why, why wasn't it working? Was it just a one-time fluke? A crazy hallucination?
Because this is not the way, a voice murmured in his mind.
"Then what is the way?" Mika snarled aloud, ignoring the guards' looks at each other, desperate and ready to push himself to all harm to succeed.
Why? the voice asked, patient and smooth
Wasn't it obvious? Because that question only had one answer. Everything was, always had been, always will be for his most important person-
-the guards were reaching forward to grab his arms and hold him still-
-for Yuu.
That is the way.
A sharp crack like lightning filled the air. The lantern shuddered and exploded into the same blinding white light from earlier, piercing forth and filling every crevice and crack. The guards let out shrill screeches as the light touched their bodies, their flesh sizzling and hissing. There was a clanging of metal lantern hitting stone floor.
It was too bright to see anything.
But Mika could see perfectly clear. Everything looked like charcoal black outlines on a sheet of crisp white paper, with every small detail carefully sketched. He backed away from the guards as they hunched over in agony, trying to cover themselves away from the merciless light.
He looked down and saw the Eye of Michael staring back at him from his right hand.
It was laughably easy for Mika to walk past the guards, push open the doors and run for freedom.
A silent nod to show the blood trail had been located. A subtle sleight of hand to indicate the direction to follow. With their shadowy robes and royal insignia on their chests, the queen's private guards were as efficient as they were deadly.
Like smoke dissipating in the wind, the four guards flew down the shadows of the long corridors. With the fluidity of long practice and skill, they charged into their targeted room. They were poised in perfect formation- one at the front, one at the back and two at each side.
Any and all threats would be eliminated mercilessly. For this mission, Mikaela Hyakuya would be found and bought back to their queen.
They were met by the silence of the shower rooms, empty save for the pitter patter of the showerheads left fully open. In the far corner a richly embroidered tunic was scrunched up in the corner, the sleeves flecked with faded red stains.
The front guard impassively picked up the tunic. Streams of water ran from the shirt, to the tiled floor and into the sieve like drains in the floor.
"The target washed his injuries clean and discarded his shirt in the showers to wash away the scent," the guard stated, their voice like the shuffle of a knive against its sheathe. "There is some scent remaining. This fabric will be used to locate the target."
In a flash of silver, the tunic was slashed into four pieces in mid air and in the blink of an eye each guard had a piece in their hand. They fell back into the shadows and into the silent run of the hunter.
Mika was lost.
Getting past the doors? That had been a walk in the park, if he ignored all his painstaking efforts and the time it had taken. But trying to actually find his way to the surface? Well, that was proving to be annoyingly hard.
If Mika were in his old home he would have been able to retrace the path to the exit they had found just fine. But right now he had no weapons, no map and no clue what part of the vampire city he has win.
Even with his bare feet, every footstep Mika took sounded too loud in the deserted passageways. They were like an endless maze of twists and corners with no windows in sight. Mika rubbed his eyes as he edged cautiously along the walls, his vision blurring in and out of focus.
Whatever had happened earlier with the lantern and light, it felt like it had drained him and left him feeling sluggishly tired. At least he had been able to wash away his blood (because Mika had learnt his lesson from Yuu's blood and the stray vampire) and change into a spare set of training uniform that looked swimmingly large on him.
Because that didn't look suspicious at all.
Mika stifled a yawn and almost stumbled past an open door. Instead he caught himself in the nick of time, stumbling backwards instead and onto his bottom.
That snapped him into attention. He froze, hoping no one with their vampiric ears had heard him. A voice was carrying through the door in the clear and authoritative tone teachers loved to hold.
"The Japanese Imperial Demon Army is the foremost threat to our nation here in the land of Japan. Unlike the vast majority of humans, this group has adjusted themselves most rapidly in attack against us due to their experience with magic and otherworld creatures, however pathetically limited that experience may be-"
This sounded awfully like a lecture, maybe one for the vampire soldiers. Wait, hadn't Yuu mentioned something about some "imperial army" in their first dream? With a burning curiosity, Mika pressed his ear into the wall to hear better.
"-the leader is named Tenri Hiragi and is a level one target. Any soldier who can present this livestock's head or drained body to our queen will be rewarded most handsomely-"
So did this mean that the Imperial Army was real? But that meant that…. Mika's mind was working furiously and he barely caught the tail end of what was being said.
"-are notorious for their experimentation on their own kind and on us vampires alike. The Japanese Imperial Demon Army is a danger and must be eradicated to establish peace on this realm. This is every soldier's duty- to protect the citizens and to be loyal to Her Majesty Supreme."
Experimentation. No, not again, no….Mika's face paled, turning his usual milky complexion a deathly white. His breaths became laboured, flashbacks charging through his mind like an electrical circuit exploding. He couldn't hold in his whimper as he sunk to the floor and struggled to find any air.
The voice from the room fell ominously silent mid word.
Mika clambered up, grasping at the wall as he broke into a dash. They must have heard him, he was going to be found out, how could he out run a vampire especially when his head was pounding from exhaustion and he couldn't breathe.
He had the vague impression of four figures enclosing around him like a square cage of bodies before he passed out.
Author's notes: I swear it feels harder to write this fic with every chapter but here is the new chapter at last! I wonder a lot if the rating M is too high for this fic (cos there isn't going to be any sex or romance) but then I remember there are chapters which are darker like these ones.
Also the song playlist for this chapter gives me so many feels (T^T)
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