"Did you miss me?"

The words were cold, canvasing the room in an expanse of ice. This wasn't right. Fyodor was supposed to be dead.

Chuuya had killed him himself.

"You must be in shock! I mean, look at me! I'm Alive!" Fyodor laughed, an odd sound coming from him. "Well don't be too surprised, I won't go that easily."

Dazai was unnaturally still next to him, watching the screen with a show of unadulterated anger settling over his face.

"I made a deal with Gogol to help me escape in exchange for well… something that he could not refuse, put simply. The whole thing with the poison and escaping was simply for my own personal amusement. I was never actually there, but it was hilarious to watch."

Fyodor leaned back in his chair, his expression relaxed. Then, eerily his eyes turned to meet Chuuya's own through the screen as if he were actually there.

"It really makes you think," Fyodor mused, "if I escaped before the prison break, then it begs the question as to who did you kill? It's such a funny question because in order to understand the full answer you would have to remember how you were turned into a vampire yourself and that's the thing. You don't remember, do you Chuuya?"

Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong.

"Why don't I help you? Does Project 49 sound familiar?"

Project 49.

Suddenly, it all came rushing back.

Unknown Number of Months Prior
Project 49

Chuuya sorted through the numerous desk drawers of the small office, searching for a document that supposedly had dirt on the Port Mafia. Mori had sent Kouyou, Gin, Higuchi, and him to find it.

However, much to his disdain, Kouyou had been the only one to show up.

He was going to kill Gin and Higuchi when he found them. Still, it wasn't like them to just not show up for work. Doing so could be a death sentence in the mafia, so deep down in his heart, Chuuya did find himself a little worried about whatever their current predicament was because there had to be an important reason why they weren't here.

"Maybe they finally hooked up," Kouyou joked from across the room as if she were reading his thoughts. "I'm sure they're fine. So let's just find this document and then we can deal with that situation later."

"Yeah yeah," Chuuya muttered back.

It took another hour of searching before Chuuya finally held up the piece of paper triumphantly.

"Found it. Fucking finally."

Kouyou laughed from where she had been looking through another drawer.

"Good, then let's go."

Despite his concern for Gin and Higuchi, the mission had been fairly underwhelming. He'd expected more from an organization intelligent enough to get any semblance of real dirt on the Port Mafia, but at least this way they could just slip in and out without the need for a mess. It was honestly strange that they hadn't run into anyone while they'd been there, but who was he to judge? Now that they'd lost their leverage, Mori would send out the grunts to get rid of the organization. They'd be disbanded and dead by the end of the week.

Leaving the office, Chuuya strolled down the dark hallways with Kouyou right behind him. Carefully, he made sure to stay out of the way of the cameras, redirecting them when needed with his ability.

The exit was fast approaching. However, as Chuuya turned another corner he stopped at the sight of a dark figure at the end of the hallway.

They stood still. Unmoving.

"Who the fuck are you?"

Chuuya turned his head about to crack a joke to Kouyou about the creepy stranger. However, he was startled upon realizing that she was no longer there.

"Kouyou?"

His fists clenched and he turned back to face the person.

Only to find that no one was there anymore either.

"Hey, asshole! What the fuck did you do to her? I'll kill you, y'know? Just come out, goddammit."

Again, he was met with silence.

Okay, something was really wrong.

A twisting feeling turned in his gut before Chuuya felt someone slam into his side, flinging him into the opposite wall. His instincts just barely managed to activate his gravity manipulation, softening the impact.

Not just anyone got the upper hand on him. Who the fuck was this?

Looking around, Chuuya searched for his attacker, only to find that they had disappeared once again.

He engulfed his body in a dangerous red light, carefully surveying the darkness.

"Stop hiding, you fucking coward."

The twirling glint of flying steel caught his eye just in time and Chuuya reached out, grabbing the blade before it could reach his stomach.

It was odd because something about the blade seemed really familiar. The size, the weight, the feel.

And then, it suddenly clicked. Painfully so.

"Gin?"

Out from the darkness came the assassin, her face blank and soulless.

And her eyes…

They were pitch black.

Unnatural.

"Gin, what happened to you?"

There was no reply, as Gin shot forward, a blade aimed for his neck.

Diving to the side, Chuuya avoided the hit, but couldn't quite bring himself to counter. He'd helped bring up Gin in the Mafia. He'd helped train her. The thought of hurting her, of killing her, made him want to throw up.

Someone had to be doing this to her. She couldn't be doing this of her own free will.

"Gin, stop. Just snap the fuck out of it," Chuuya gritted out, grabbing her wrist, as she again tried to stab a blade into his neck.

Shoving her away, Chuuya stepped back.

"Gin?" Chuuya tried again, but there was still no sign of recognition in her eyes.

Instead, Gin just dashed forward, a knife aimed, this time, for Chuuya's head.

He ducked, swiping Gin's legs out from under her, and watched as she collapsed to the ground without a single sound.

Like a puppet cut from its strings.

How was he going to tell Akutagawa?

Jumping up almost inhumanly, Gin swung a fist at him that Chuuya easily grabbed before spinning her around and slamming her into the wall.

Perhaps if he could just knock her out, he could take her away to someone who could help and figure out what the fuck was going on. He wouldn't settle for less. He couldn't.

Using one hand to keep her pinned to the wall, Chuuya raised his other to wrap it around her neck. He just needed to apply enough pressure to knock her out. Then he would find Kouyou and they could all escape together.

Except his plans were dashed as a bullet whizzed past his head, making him jump back on instinct.

"The fuck?"

Out of the shadows came another familiar face.

Higuchi.

She too had the same darkened eyes as Gin, along with something off about her whole demeanor.

Okay, so things were more complicated now, but Chuuya had dealt with worse. He'd be able to incapacitate them and then all four of them would get out of here and figure this all out. Happily ever after and all that shit.

Taking a deep breath, Chuuya grabbed Gin, flinging her into the far wall with enough force to knock her unconscious for the moment. It was going to leave a few bruises, but it would just have to do.

Approaching Higuchi, who relentlessly fired shot after shot, Chuuya was way more unfazed than he was with Gin. Higuchi's bullets wouldn't be able to actually hurt him and while she was skilled, Higuchi didn't quite have the cunning of Gin.

Upon reaching her, Chuuya grabbed her, slamming her to the ground and effectively knocking her unconscious.

Great.

Now he just had to find Kouyou.

"Real nice of you to let me do all the dirty work," Chuuya joked, "now where are you? I'm really tired, so let's just go home so we can figure out what happened to these two idiots and fix it."

He was met with silence, as the darkness seemed to encroach just a little bit closer.

Where the fuck was she?

His gut twisted, as fear again began to crawl up his throat. What if Higuchi and Gin had gotten to her? What if she was hurt? Or worse...

But then there she was, coming out of the shadows, and making Chuuya's body sag in relief.

"Thank fuck. You scared the shit outta me, y'know?" Chuuya laughed, running a hand through his hair. "Now c'mon, let's go home."

Chuuya turned around.

And then everything happened so quickly that he barely even had time to process it all until he was falling to the ground in a world of pain. Blood seeped out of his body from where there was now a long, red, jagged slash across his chest.

Kouyou's Golden Demon towered above him, her Katana dripping with his blood.

Oh.

Oh no.

A boot kicked his side, making Chuuya gasp in pain, as he was forced onto his back.

Above him was Kouyou, but she was wrong. Her face was blank. Her eyes were dark and soulless.

"No... Kouyou please... don't do this..."

Tears slipped down his cheeks as his pleas fell on deaf ears.

Kouyou sunk down next to him.

Fangs glistened in the darkness.

A sharp, stabbing feeling pierced his neck.

And then there was nothing.

"Do you remember now?"

Chuuya couldn't breathe, as his vision blurred and suddenly everything felt like it was happening too fast. It was too much. He couldn't do this.

The cauterized wound on his chest twinged with phantom pain. The wound that he thought had come from corruption.

Kouyou. He'd been with Kouyou when it'd happened.

There'd been a body double.

Fyodor had dragged up that specific memory because the body double…

Fuck…

Oh god… fuck… no…

"It really makes you think, if I escaped then who did you kill?"

Does Project 49 sound familiar, Chuuya?"

"No! No, just shut the fuck up! Please! Just... fuck! God fucking dammit! I can't do this… please… just stop… fucking shit… no... I didn't... I couldn't..."

"Chuuya?" Dazai tried, attempting to calm him down, as he placed a hand on his shoulder.

Why was he doing that?

Chuuya knew that Dazai wasn't oblivious to the gravity of the situation. He couldn't be. He too had to understand what Chuuya had done. He too had to understand that he had killed his sister.

"So now you realize that you killed her. I just wish I could see the look on your face. I bet it's hilarious! You see, your sister, Kouyou, had a bad heart and the lord sent me here to bring justice to the deserving. So she had to die. I do hope you understand."

Dazai tightened his grip on his shoulder.

Suddenly Chuuya couldn't take it anymore.

He lunged for the remote, but Dazai stopped him just in time, grabbing his wrist and forcing him to sit back on the coach.

"Turn it off," Chuuya struggled. "Please, just make it stop."

"I'm sorry, you know I can't."

Gentle arms engulfed Chuuya in a hug and he sunk into it, turning his head away from the screen.

He understood why they had to keep the tape playing, but he hated it. He hated it all.

"We found an ability user, a lovely person, who could cast powerful illusions onto other people. The illusions were so real in fact that the people under their influence actually started to believe they really were the person that the illusionist had turned them into. But hardly any of that matters now, we've made sure that that ability user won't ever be resurfacing if you know what I mean. I was quite disappointed though that neither of you realized that it wasn't me. Especially when Kouyou, under the guise of myself, touched Chuuya during corruption and he didn't die. So tragic. So sad."

A smirk tugged at his lips, as Fyodor leaned forward in his seat, his hands clasped together in his lap.

"Now, Dazai, the real reason that I'm sending this. It's just that I think I've waited long enough, so I've come to bargain with you. I suppose one could say that I found someone earlier today wandering the streets alone. Very dangerous, you know? So, I thought to myself, why don't I help them and bring them back with me?"

Chubby glanced up just in time to see the camera shift over to reveal an unconscious Atsushi, bound and gagged.

Dazai tensed next to him.

"If you don't tell me the location of The Book within the next week, then perhaps Atsushi can go join Kouyou. You wouldn't want that now would you, Dazai? Anyways, I trust you to know how to find me and if you can't then perhaps I'll just have to find you. I mean, I'd have to give Atsushi's body to someone to bury. I would never want to disrespect the dead."

The video ended and the Tv lit up with static.

Dazai turned it off.

The air felt like glass.

"I killed her, Dazai. I killed my own fucking sister."

"No," Dazai argued, pulling Chuuya closer to his body, "no you didn't. Fyodor did."

"But it's my fault, Dazai. I'm... I'm a monster. She didn't even get to die as herself."

Grabbing his face in both of his hands, Dazai pressed his forehead against Chuuya's own, eyeing him tenderly.

"Don't call yourself that. You're not a monster, Chuuya. You're too annoyingly human to ever be considered such a thing."

Pulling Chuuya into his arms, Dazai's lips settled next to his ear.

"It'll be okay, alright? Everything will be fine."