Song playlist: Let the River In by Radical Face

Don't scare me off now, I'm your only friend

But now you're drifting away

Now you're floating along

And soon you'll disappear

Chapter 21

Cleave

/kliːv/

1. to separate or cause to separate, especially along a natural weakness

2i. stick or hold together and resist separation

ii. to remain faithful

"Yuu, where are you?" Mika mumbled to himself.

He was sitting with his knees hunched to his chest and his only company his own gnawing thoughts. The dreamscape was a barren stretch of emptiness, Mika feeling too melancholy to create a captivating landscape without Yuu to be captivated by it.

The intervals between Yuu visiting his dreams were growing longer and longer like a gaping abyss. Was Yuu forgetting to think of Mika before sleeping so they could meet? Was he too busy spending time with his new allies in that team of his?

…was Mika…being replaced?

Mika tugged on the golden thread floating from his right hand and wrapped it obsessively like a cocoon around his pinky finger. Then he drooped his finger in a circle in the air, watching as a flower sprung up to meet his touch, then another, then another until soon he was curled up in an circle of white petaled daisies.

Just as the number of daisies was crossing the border from many to worryingly excessive, Mika caught sight of movement in the corner of his eye. He leapt to his feet with a wide stretched smile.

The smile didn't last long as Mika stiffened.

Yuu had arrived, but something was wrong. His body was slumped and his eyes were lethargic as if he wasn't aware of his surroundings. Mika's breath choked his throat as he saw the thick decaying tendrils crawling over Yuu's back, oozing pungent tar and merging together with Yuu's limbs like a sick parasite.

The golden thread on Yuu's end was completely taken over by corroding black rust that shut out all of its once brilliant light.

"Yuu!"

Mika cried out and leapt forward past the daisies crumbling to charred ash. His right hand stretched out to grab Yuu, to do anything, but Yuu was fading away before his very eyes. The night sky above dimmed from black to a washed out grey and the thread wrapped around Mika's finger slipped loose.

As the last loop unravelled, Yuu had disappeared and the tears clinging to the brink of Mika's lashes let go.

Mika woke up with a wet face and his lips still parted loose with Yuu's name. In his struggle to stand up, his legs were ensnared by his richly embroidered bed quilts before he finally broke free. Staggering to his feet, Mika spun his whole body towards the door like a teetering spinning top and then stopped.

Silvery translucent like a ghost, Michael was sitting on a high backed chair that Mika last remembered being in front of his dressing table but was now in front of the door. Krul's royal furniture could barely compare to Michael's divine presence and yet his otherworldly robes and lightning filled hair draped over the sculpted wood and velvet as if it were the finest throne.

Mika grit his teeth and strode forward. Michael did not move. When his eyes darted to the gap between the chair and the doorframe, a breath taking pair of white wings unfolded from thin air and smoothly filled the space in silent reproach.

Clenching and unclenching his hands, Mika pleaded, "Michael, let me go. I need to go. Yuu needs me."

Do you know, Michael said evenly, his voice resounding in Mika's head like in his dreams, Why you cannot pass?

"Michael, please."

It was quietly that Michael imparted his next words.

Your hand is shaking.

Mika looked uncomprehendingly at his right hand, the very same hand that had failed to reach Yuu in his dream, and realised for the first time that it was terrorised with tremors. He tried to still it to no avail and felt his eyes grow hot once again.

A transparent hand covered his. Looking up, Mika saw that Michael was now standing in front of him with one long arm outstretched like an unfurling lotus. His touch too was like in his dreams; feather light yet electric like a warm chill.

Mika steadied his breathing to the strokes of Michael's elegant fingers until the shaking subsided and his mind felt clearer than before.

He met Michael's gaze once more and everything that needed to be said did not need any words.

"You won't let me pass because I'm not…thinking things through properly," Mika finally broke the silence. The words were difficult and heavy on his tongue, reluctant to be realised. Mika let them linger awkwardly for a few seconds before saying frustratedly, "I know you're always teaching me not to rush into things but it's hard just to wait while Yuu could be being tortured or in pain right now. You saw the dream didn't you?"

If Yuuichirou is physically in dire pain, you would be feeling the rebound through the bond. The only certainty is that something is interfering with his Eye and corrupting his side of the soul bond.

Mika noticed that Michael, whom he had never seen as anything less than impeccably self-controlled like a marble statue, had tightened his grip on Mika's hand ever so slightly.

"You're worried about Lucifer," Mika blurted, not sure why he was so surprised. For the first time, he noticed the lightning storm brimming just beneath Michael's aura. "You...care about him, really deeply."

More than the entire constellation of realms on every plane of existence, Michael murmured like an ancient promise. His body was loosing its opacity and he looked like he knew it. His fingers gently guided Mika's right hand towards him until the back of Mika's hand brushed against his right eye. With one last shimmer, Michael floated in a cloud of silver into the Eye until no trace was left except for his voice in Mika's head.

Your magical ability is growing fast for me to be able to manifest my presence already. The day of your magical maturation must be near. Mikaela, I do not wish for you to make the same mistakes as I did. You have more companions than Yuuchirou and I, and one of them awaits outside your door.

As Mika reached for the doorknob, Michael's last words were, My Beholder, will you allow your own prejudice to hold you back?

He opened the door and immediately wished he hadn't.

Lusina was kneeling in front of him, her limbs rigid as if she had been there for hours. Her clothes were noticeably tidy and clean of blood but her face looked distorted as if the bones had set wrong.

"Your Highness!" She immediately sank into a bow perfect enough to make even their strict sword instructor impressed, with one knee bent and her hand clasped against her chest. "I have been waiting for my punishment for acting against your orders yesterday."

Mika stared wordlessly.

"I will accept my death at your hands, Your Highness."

Face settling in a neutral mask, Mika turned his back wide open to Lusina and impartially said, "Come inside."

He waved a hand without looking at the red and gold sofas in front of his fireplace as he walked towards his cabinets. A slight of his hand and a slight bit of magic had the teapot water now boiling hot and he assembled the tray with immaculate order. When he carried the silver tray over, Lusina was sitting on the edge of the smallest sofa.

Mika leisurely poured the tea into two fine china teacups and settled back against his cushion. The tealeaves tasted hand picked and expensive, as always.

With small sips, the cup was eventually reduced to dregs. Mika poured himself another. On his fourth cup, Lusina finally began to fidget; a few stray looks, a small repositioning of her legs, nothing more.

"You're resigned to your fate and came here to own up," Mika finally spoke up when his stomach was starting to hurt. "So you're someone who takes duty very seriously and is reliable. You can also keep yourself composed in the face of death no matter how long the wait. In an army you'd be best suited for a leadership position but you lack the passion of a general- a strategist or resources organiser then."

Lusina looked surprised and Mika elaborated, "Michael has been teaching me this tea drinking method for assessing a person's character. I'm not going to execute you, or punish you, or whatever ridiculous idea you've come up with."

"I betrayed you. I revealed everything to Lord Ferid and led him here," Lusina insisted gravely.

"And yet when you entered the room after Ferid, the first thing you did was look frantically for that one vampire before looking completely relieved when you saw her."

It was probably a good thing Lusina's teacup hadn't moved an inch from the tray since she entered, as her entire body jolted before quickly stiffening.

"So what did Ferid say he'd to her if you didn't spill up?"

"…How did you…?"

Mika swirled his tea, watching the ripples overlap his reflection, before settling the cup down. "You're not that only one that bastard has blackmailed before. So, what was it?"

Clenching her fists against her knees, Lusina began to talk. "Your Highness, Teuta pledged herself to you without hesitation because of her loyalty, but she has also been fixated on you for a long time because she feels like she relates to your…situation."

"Stop being vague and get to the point," Mika cut in lowly.

"My apologies, Your Highness. I was referring to your half human, half vampire status…if that is correct?" Lusina asked cautiously as if in fear of offence. Mika had never felt so self-conscious of his blue eyes and rounded ears but nodded shortly for the sake of the conversation.

"As you may probably be aware Your Highness, vampires are fallen angels with corrupted souls. Usually the corrupted souls fall from the Heaven realm to the Underworld realm where they grow into new bodies. But something went wrong with Teuta's soul and she fell into the human realm, leaving her to wander amongst the humans until she was found and recollected. The human characteristics she picked up have left a long lasting impression though."

"Wouldn't that make her a social outcast amongst the vampires, or at least on the bottom of the hierarchy?" Mika asked before he could stop himself.

"We are all outcasts in some way, Your Highness," Lusina said simply. "With her status it would be easily overlooked if a noble like Lord Ferid decided to kill her, or to take her captive or to do as he wished…"

"So that's how he blackmailed you." Mika stared at his half full cup of tea as the vampire who had been willing to get beaten up by her comrade and punished by him just to keep silent about her sacrifice sat silently. His shoulders dropped and he buried his head in his hands, the cold front he had been struggling to maintain melting away by more than the hot fireplace.

"Dammit Yuu, how am I supposed to hate vampires when they do stuff like this?" he muttered fiercely. Deep inside, he knew why he felt so rattled.

Mika would have done exact same thing for Yuu.

Michael's parting words rose in his mind, bouncing off the walls repeatedly until he couldn't take it anymore. He suddenly moved over to Lusina, determination fuelling his bones with adrenaline, as he hovered his hands over Lusina's startled face and chanted aloud, "Therapévo."

"Your Highness?!"

Mikaela no—

But it was too late. As soon as the healing spell began to glow its white Light magic, Mika could already tell something was wrong. The nose rearranged itself with a shuddering crack and bones realigned with medical textbook accuracy, but at the same time Lusina's skin was beginning to disintegrate into luminous white particles.

"Michael, what's happening?!" Mika cried in alarm. He cut off his spell and moved his hands away, making Lusina fall sideways onto the sofa limply with her eyes fluttered shut. Her skin was still shining with Light magic as the disintegration continued at a slower pace.

There was a small peaceful smile on her face.

Vampires are corrupted souls. Your healing Light magic is purifying her and sending her back to the Heaven realm, Michael explained, his voice quicker than usual in the urgency of the situation.

"My magic is sending Lusina back to heaven?"

"What?" someone's muffled voice echoed Mika's alarm.

The door slammed open unceremoniously and Teuta burst inside as she stared in abject horror at Lusina's lifeless figure. For once, she gave no heed to Mika as she rushed over to the sofa. She grabbed Lusina by both shoulders and shook her like a ragdoll, trying to get her to wake up while calling her name desperately.

"Lusina! Lusina!"

There was no response. Teuta wrapped both of her arms painfully tight around Lusina and ordered, "Don't disappear, you're my best friend, don't you dare disappear on me."

As Lusina's head lolled onto her chest, her voice cracked and she begged with a broken plea, "Please, don't leave me alone."

"I can't send her back like this," Mika said distantly as something in his heart clenched. If Teuta had shorter hair, it was like looking at a reversed scene from his and Yuu's past. He knelt next to Teuta and commanded with an iron will, "Michael, tell me how to stop this. I won't allow it."

There was a strange tingling warmth from Michael as he replied, As you wish.

Mika would later look back and realise it was the rare gifted mantle of proud approval.

Lusina's eyes opened to a muddled blackness, then the bizarre scene of Teuta dumping sugar into her teacup like it was going out of style while Mika ignored her in favour of a thick book. She counted five teaspoons before she nearly physically couldn't let it go on any longer.

"Teuta, stop."

The teaspoon fell mid air, spraying sugar wildly all over the table. Teuta moved like a deadly hurricane as she knocked her sofa sideways to grab Lusina's shoulders.

"Lusina!" she snarled, her face taut with fury. "How dare you try to move on to the afterlife without me? How dare you let Lord Ferid blackmail you because of me, and then have the nerve to hide it? How dare you…"

Her mouth moved wordlessly as if left speechless in anger but then her head slowly leant forward until it was resting against Lusina's shoulder.

"Why…?"

There was a heavy silence before Lusina softly spoke.

"Aren't we...friends?"

"I thought you always said vampires don't have friends, only allies and enemies," Teuta said slowly in disbelief but Lusina wasn't meeting her burning gaze. A grin began to blossom over Teuta's face and she laughed bright and loud and a bit tearfully.

Mika's book thudded shut, drawing both of their attention to him. The heavy hard backed volume was now balanced on his lap as he crossed his legs and watched Lusina and Teuta with reminiscence in his eyes.

"Lusina, your body was stabilised by tying your soul to Teuta's," Mika stated factually, not reacting to the shock that elicited from Lusina. "Rest tonight so you can recover fully for our departure with Ferid tomorrow. If one of you dies the other will be severely compromised, so factor it into your strategy plans for battle. I expect a detailed report for all my subject's strengths, weaknesses and fighting patterns tomorrow morning including your own."

Lusina's eyes widened in pleasant surprise before she lowered into a bow and promised, "Yes, Your Highness! I will make you proud, I swear. Teuta we've imposed long enough on His Highness, we'll be taking our leave now."

"Lusina," Mika interrupted them on their way out. "Next time, feel free to actually drink some tea with me when you visit."

He felt his old mischievous spark reigniting as Lusina apologised as close to flustered as she came before leaving with Teuta in tow. He shook his head with a smile of his own and glanced at the assorted jumble of teacups and scattered sugar grains that were left behind from his guests.

If these two vampires could reconcile, there was certain hope for him and Yuu too. He would find him and save him from whatever danger that was looming, no matter what.

That night, Mika stood alone in an empty dreamscape. He was calling Yuu's name over and over again until his voice turned hoarse...

..

.

..

...but nobody came.

Author's notes: Please kindly leave a review