Kato ᢉ𐭩

Jin staggers into the hall of the mansion, a chunk of the corridor missing like someone’s taken a bite out of it. He adjusts you in his arms, a hand supporting your knees and the other on your back.

“Open the door.” Jin orders, stopping in front of a room.

You turn the brass knob for him, pushing it open as he steps inside, taking a step back and closing the door with his hip. Jin spots a bed in the middle of the room, moving over to it and resting you on it. For a moment, his knees buckle and he sways before placing a hand out and catching himself on the bed. You hear him click his tongue in frustration.

“You..” Your eyes flicker at each of the bullet holes staining his suit.

“Doesn’t matter.”

Jin shuts you up with a simple sentence, lowering himself to take note of each of your injuries.

He only saw two bullets in your lower left leg, another shot through your chest. Jin supports himself on his knees, leaning over the bed.

“... There’s really nothing we can do, is there?” He mutters.

You blink, “A– Are you sure–?”

You hear a round of gunshots being fired off in the distance, the Huntsman anomaly finding another victim you suppose.

“My body isn’t healing anywhere near as fast as it should..” Jin’s brow furrows, “Those fucking bullets..”

“J–Jin! Are we going to..” You sit up too quickly, wincing in pain before lowering yourself back onto the mattress.

“..y/n.” Jin presses a large hand over yours, squeezing, “I’m not going to lie to you. You know nothing lasts forever.”

You open your mouth before closing it knowing nothing good will come out. Instead, your eyes water, blurring your vision. Jin turns his face away from you. You move over on the bed, patting the space next to you.

“Lay down.”

“Huh?” Jin sneers, “You can’t order me around, y/n.”

“Please.”

He pauses for a moment, before slowly angling himself into the bed next to you. You hear a loud bang go off in the distance, the ground shaking. Jin shifts his weight over, crossing his arms as you begin crying softly. You can’t control it, your whole body feeling like it’s about to burst from stress, the only expulsion of your emotions coming out through your eyes.

“... y/n.” Jin quietly moves his hand over to yours, palm expectant.

Your hand trembles as you take hold, still sobbing.

“Bianerus.”

You glance over at him confused before your eyes widen as he opens his mouth.

“Die happy.”

Your sobs catch in your throat, shrinking away until there’s nothing making you cry anymore, the weight in your chest lifting until you could breathe as well as you could. You feel your lips slowly curling up into a small smile as you lay back. Jin stays silent, glancing over at you.

“I.. I don’t..” You swallow, “..want to leave you, Jin..”

“You’re not.” He brushes his thumb gently across your hand, “Close your eyes.”

Your lashes flutter shut as Jin closes his own.

“I’m coming with you, y/n.”

Tohma presses a large white dresser chest adorned with gold handles against the door before turning to you, laying on the bed and shaking.

“That will have to do for now.” He dusts off his hands, making his way to you as the anomaly bangs against the door.

Tohma kneels down beside the bed, his hands steady and gentle as he turns your arm over to look for any injuries. He carefully unbuttoned the top part of your blouse, his brows furrowing in concern as he stares at the jagged laceration across your stomach.

“Hm. A bit deep.” You watch as he slides his blazer off and wraps it around his hand, applying pressure to your wound.

Tohma sighs, as if he knows his efforts will be in vain. You’re bleeding far too much, and where the hell was back up?

“T– Tohma..” Your voice trembles.

“Yes, my dear?” He replies calmly, but you can see the sweat gathering above his brow.

“... What about you?”

“What about me?” He looks up at you through his monocle.

“Your back.”

Tohma pauses, frowning for a moment. He wasn’t sure how you noticed. His blazer had been covering his blood-stained shirt, and his back had been turned away from you this whole time. He quickly regains his composure, offering you a small smile.

“I’ll be fine.”

You wince in pain, “Are.. are the others coming?”

Tohma nods, “Yes, yes, don’t worry, dear.”

There’s a sickening splinter as the anomaly breaks through the wood of the door, trying to push back on the dresser.

“Here. Hold this down.” Tohma replaces his hand with yours, gently pressing down before walking towards the door.

He moves the dresser over the hole of the door, and you can see how the back of his shirt is completely stained with deep, red blood all the way through. You grimace, Tohma noticing as he turns back around. His steps are uneven and clumsy, as if drunk, as he makes his way back over to you. He fell to his knees beside the bed, dropping his head down next to you and clasping his hands together into a prayer position above his head.

“I love you, my dear.”

“... I… love you too.. Tohma.”

There’s a crash as the anomaly slams against the door again, the dresser shuddering before it rams itself into the door again, wood splintering as the door crashes open and the dresser falls to the ground with a thud. The anomaly makes its move towards Tohma before stopping and grumbling as it notices the lack of a heartbeat in the room. It turns, stalking back into the hall.

After all, there’s no fun in killing prey that’s already dead.

The two of you are laying next to each other, the stars of the night sky drifting above peacefully despite the sound of Kaito heaving his chest in pain, wheezing as he tries to stabilize his breath.

“shit, shit..” He shuts his eyes for a moment, “I knew.. I knew we never should have gone on this mission..”

You gingerly turn your head to look at Kaito, tears streaming does his cheeks as he bites down on his bottom lip, trying to silence his sobs. All of Frostheim had been recruited for this mission, Darkwick reminding them time and time to be careful. Though, no one could prepare for anomaly this strong. A series of disappearances— all leading to this forest stalked by a cat-like entity, its tail shaping into a clawed hand at the end.

It had shredded the front of your torso with its claws, crushing a paw into your chest as it held you down. Kaito had shot it multiple times with his arrows, only enraging and causing the beast to hook its talons into him instead. You were sure that would be the end of the both of you. But as the creature unhinged its jaw atop of the two of you– it suddenly stopped. Its head jolted up, breaking your ribs as it used you to take off deeper into the forest.

“Maybe.. maybe the others will find us.” Kaito says, trying to reassure himself more than you.

Though, for what feels like hours, nobody comes for you. Not an animal, insect, or even the anomaly. Your eyes feel heavy, your vision darkening. You can’t tell if your eyes are closed or if all the stars have closed, though just a few moments later you feel a drop of water hit your face, rolling down. Are you crying? No. It’s raining.

“I.. I thought the weather would be clear tonight.” You say quietly, unable to talk above a whisper without your chest aching.

Kaito hums, his hand moving closer to yours. Maybe the universe has taken pity on you. Who wouldn’t pity two young souls writhing in pain on the harsh dirt, destined to never be found. The rain slowly washes away the burning pain and blood collected in pools across your neck and torso.

“...I feel different than I thought I would.” Kaito mumbles, closing his eyes as the rain ran across his body, “I thought.. I thought I would be scared to die.”

Kaito’s fingers intertwine with yours, flipping your hand over as he shakily holds it, “But… I don’t for some reason.”

You turn your head to look at him, curious for what he has to say.

“Maybe… it’s not as scary with you by me.”

The two of you lay in silence, hands clasped together as you process what Kaito had said. You squeeze his hand, and Kaito turns to look at you.

“I– I… I’m not really good with girls.” His face scrunches up a bit as a light tinge of pink erupts on his cheeks, “I’ve never had a girlfriend or anything I–”

“It doesn’t matter Kaito.” You say firmly.

The rainwater rolling over his face looks more like tears to you now, his face shaking as he smiles at you.

“Kaito– will you be my boyfriend?”

His eyes widen, opening and closing his mouth, struggling to form words, “You– you want to–?”

“When we get out of here, let’s go on a date, okay?” You smile at him, eyes half-lidded

Kaito nods frantically, staring at you with the last bit of life he has left in him, “I’ll– I’ll take you somewhere nice! I promise!”

You hear the sound of a screeching howl in the distance, “The others must have found the anomaly.”

“They’ll find us too!” Kaito exclaims optimistically.

You turn your head back up to the sky, “I feel like I’m floating. Like my head is just a balloon drifting towards sleep.”

“Huh?” Kaito’s voice sounds distant.

“When… when we wake up… I’ll visit you first thing.” Your blinking slows down, each time you keep your eyes closed for longer and longer.

Kaito doesn’t respond, his eyes closed. You turn to look at him, a peaceful smile on his face before closing your own eyes.

It’s a shame the two of you don’t ever get to go on that date.

You hear a squelching sound as Luca lunges his sword into the back of the anomaly, a red stain blossoming across the front of the satin layers of its gown. As he pulls his sword out, the anomaly falls to the ground, screeching. The sound startles you, the wail warped and shrill as though a thousand different women were screaming in pain. The eerily long limbs of the anomaly flail in jagged, uncontrolled motion as it slithers across the blood-stain marble floor.

There’s a clinging noise as Luca returns his sword to his artifact chain before he dashes over to you, crouching down to be face level with you.

“y/n!” His eyes darted over your arms, legs, torso– looking for any urgent injuries, “Are you hurt anywhere?”

You open your mouth to tell him about the sharp pain shooting through your back, the inch deep lacerations across your back, your bruised ribs, but you’re cut off by the sickening sound of nails puncturing straight through Luca’s chest. He froze, hacking up blood and watching as it stained the palm of his glove. You watch as the anomaly rips its hands out of him, body slowly disintegrating. Like a cat, it backed against the wall, contorting its once humanoid body over, spine protruding from underneath its skin as it spiralled into itself.

Luca falls against your chest, his breath shaky and quiet. You wince in pain, and for a moment you think he’s dead. But just a few moments later, you hear his voice wheezing as he says your name, “y/n.”

You look down at him, his violet eyes twitching as he looks into yours.

“Tell… tell me you’re not hurt.”

There’s a metallic taste flooding your mouth, maybe blood, maybe your shame, but you swallow it back down, unable to answer Luca. And for the first time since you’ve met him– you see tears exploding in his eyes, as his face crumpled up. A broken sob escapes his lips, then another, until he’s breaking down, leaning his head on the wall above you. His tears drop onto your head like raindrops,

“Please, please, tell me you’re not hurt. Please tell me you’ll live.” He cries, “Please tell me I protected you.”

Your mouth tastes like sin as you choke out the words, “I’m okay.”

It feels like a snake has curled itself around your neck, tightening until you can barely breathe.

A liar. You’re a liar. But if it relieved any sort of pain from Luca’s last moments, you can be happy to die with that secret.

You help him sit back onto the wall, a smear of blood dragging as he slumps down. You stare up at the ceiling, a strange, mesmerizing canvas of black splotches and faded stars that prickle your vision. It’s almost as if the night sky had crept into your vision, settling onto the top of your cornea. Wherever you look, the stars seem to follow. Luca glances up at the ceiling, trying to catch what you’re viewing.

“What’re you doing?..” His voice is quiet and mumbled.

You don’t know. You shrug.

“..What do you see?”

“Stars. I guess.” You mumble, “I dunno what they are.”

He doesn’t speak, but you can hear him sniffling again.

“Luca…?” You glance over at him.

“What color is the ceiling?”

The question catches you off guard, and you’re not sure what his intent is. You stare up at the ceiling. The longer you look up above you, the more darkness blooms across your vision, only dissipating for a moment when you move your eyes to look at another point of the ceiling.

“Black. The ceiling’s black.” You answer.

Luca rests his hand on top of yours, not saying much else. In silence, you drop your head on his shoulder, eyes slowly fluttering close. The sky follows you when you close your eyes, all the stars once on the ceiling behind your eyelids.

“It’s white. The ceiling’s white.” He mumbles, a tear rolling down his cheek but you don’t hear him.

You don’t hear his sobs, or the way his breath crackles in his throat.

He knows you can’t hear him. He knows that you lied.

“The ceiling’s always been white.”

Alan grunts as he tightens the bandage on you, kneeling down beside you, pulling on it before wrapping it around your waist securely. He topples over for a second, his forehead hitting the wall of the classroom before he regains composure, backing up.

“Sorry.” He says firmly.

“No, no.. don’t apologize.” You cough, scooting over, “You should sit too.”

Alan seems to think about it for a moment before making his way over to the wall, letting out a breath of relief from respite. Moonlight filtered in through the classroom window, the room quiet as you two said nothing to each other. The two of you sat next to each other, shoulders almost touching. You turn to look at him and his tired expression, voice quiet.

“Are you okay..?” You ask, glancing over him to get a look at any injuries.

“Yeah.” Alan crosses his arms over his chest as you notice dark red splotch stained across his shirt.

Without thinking, you reach over, gripping at the edge of the fabric to get a closer look. Alan moves back for a moment before letting you look over his chest. You unbutton the top of his shirt, peering down and wincing as you catch a glimpse of his mangled chest, blood gushing from the wound. Alan pulls his shirt back, letting you back away. You sit back against the wall, wrapping your arms tightly around yourself, trying to forget the sight. Alan catches sight of how your legs tremble uncontrollably despite how hard you tried to keep them still. Your body felt busy, shaking with anxiety, yet it was hard for you to make a coherent thought in your head, millions of them popping up at the same time, smearing whatever notion of a thought you had come up with before.

You feel a large hand clasp on your shoulder. You look up at Alan as he gently pulls you in closer to him, his arm wrapped around you carefully. Your head instinctively falls on his shoulder, cheek squishing into his warmth. Alan’s never been good with words, you know that, though his touch was probably more comfort than any words could give.

“... This… doesn’t hurt, right?” Alan asks quietly.

You nod, “It’s fine, Alan.”

He grunts in response, running his hand along the side of your arm gently. Alan clears his throat awkwardly before speaking.

“Sorry. Didn’t want you to get tangled up in things.”

“It’s my job as inspector.” You speak softly, “Don’t beat yourself up over it.”

“Still.” He doesn’t elaborate much further.

Your vision softens, the edges of your view becoming blurry, tiny specks of static stars drifting across your sight. You hum quietly as your eyelids begin to flutter shut. Alan glances down at you, not bothering to stop you. He knows it’ll go by much more peacefully if he’s gentle, simply gazing at you. He rubs the side of your arm once again, his head dipping down as he stops fighting back that groggy feeling behind the back of his eyes. His eyelids close shut, arm still around you.

“Ngh..” Sho grunts, clutching the side of his stomach as he sits up against the alleyway wall.

“Did you get hit too?...” You look over at him.

Sho nods, “... Yeah. Leo ‘nd Alan are luring the anomaly to the other side of town.”

You take a better look at him under the moonlight, his clothes tattered, stained with dirt and blood. Cuts are scattered across his arms and neck, still fresh, drips of blood running down his body. He wasn’t moving much—just breathing, shakily. You gulp. Sho glances at you, noticing your concern.

“Hey. Worry about yourself.” He heaves, his eyes landing on the laceration spanning across your torso.

You grimace, looking down and covering your abdomen with your arms shamefully.

“Is anyone coming to get us?”

“Yeah, as soon as they’ve got the anomaly captured.” Sho places a hand on your back, “It’s been moving around the city pretty erratically, so give them a bit.”

Your brows knit together as the hot pain in your stomach grows. You shift around uncomfortably, hoping a change in position would help mellow it. Sho’s hand moves slowly up your back and around your shoulders, gently pulling you in closer to him, your head falling on his chest. Sho chews on the bottom of his lip, listening to the puff of your breath. He wanted to be hopeful. He wanted to believe someone was coming, that Leo and Alan would be able to get to you guys in time. But he didn’t. He couldn’t. Still, he didn’t say anything to you. You didn’t need to hear what he was thinking. You shiver, bringing your legs in closer to you, pulling them over Sho’s.

“Cold?” He rubs your shoulder.

You nod, Sho nudging your head off of him for a moment as he removes his jacket, placing it over you.

“Is… Is anyone coming sooner?” You wince, curling up underneath his jacket.

“They’ll come soon, y/n.” He scoots you in closer to him, “Don’t worry.”

“...Right.”

You close your eyes, trying to focus on anything besides the pain and creeping feeling of despair in your chest. You lean in closer to Sho’s chest, listening to his heartbeat and try to center your attention on it. It didn’t sound right. Slow, uneven, but you didn’t care, it was still a reminder he was still alive next to you.

“y/n?” Sho asks quietly.

You open your eyes, feeling groggy as you hum in response.

“Oh. Good.” He mumbles, sounding a bit surprised but relieved, “Tired?”

You nod.

“Why don’t you rest?” Sho nudges you with his elbow, a small smile on his face, “When you wake up, we’ll be back in Darkwick, ‘kay?”

You thought it over, darkness shrouding the corners of your vision, “I feel bad falling asleep..”

“The agents’ll come pick us up, so just close your eyes.”

“Mm.” You let out a quiet sigh as you leaned back, body finally starting to relax.

You close your eyelids, focusing on the sound of Sho’s heartbeat until the sound slowly fades away. Sho stares down at you, his eyes trailing to your chest and sighing when he realizes it's not moving anymore. His eyes slowly close shut as well, deciding it’d be best if he got some rest too.

Shame you don’t get to wake back up in Darkwick.

Leo sucks in his breath through his teeth, hissing as his back hits the wall of the subway station, a rivulet of blood knocking out of his mouth. He raises his arm, firing off three shots towards the anomaly, watching as it recoils back, slowly melting into a black substance.

“Fuckin’ gross.” Leo clicks his tongue, backing up towards you.

You watch in fear as the anomaly writhes around, like something underneath its skin is attempting to break through. It melts into a bubbling puddle on the station tile, hissing. Leo turns back to face you, his hand over the edge of his stomach, bloodstained. He kneels down in front of you before sitting down, sighing.

“... I don’t have any anomalous medicine.” Leo says, reaching into his pocket then frowning, “The fuck?”

You tilt your head in confusion as Leo begins patting himself, swearing.

“I guess I don’t have my phone either.” He huffs, “So call Cap or Sho.. No way we’re getting out of here by ourselves.”

“I… I don’t have my phone either.” You mumble, looking down.

“Huh? Seriously?!” Leo exclaims.

“I think it dropped while we were running…”

He scoffs, eyes narrowing. You look at his face and see something you haven’t seen before. Fear? Leo looks scared. Worried.

“I’m sorry, Leo–” You stammer.

“Give me your hand, Honor Roll.” Leo doesn’t ask. He grabs your hand forcefully into his, closing his eyes, “Haxs.”

You watch as his face twitches a little, a subtle movement as he listens in. He didn’t say anything for a solid minute, opening his eyes and looking at the ground in disappointment.

“... Why can’t I hear anyone?” Leo mutters under his breath, not talking to you.

He moves over, laying back on the wall and staring down at his bloody uniform, frustrated. You don’t know what to do, or say, so you stare at the ground, looking at the dark grey grout between the tiles, your eyes following it.

“What are you doing?” Leo crosses his arms, giving up on his previous mission.

You shrug. Leo’s eyes try to follow your vision, giving up when he doesn’t see anything of interest.

“You’re not doing anything useful, y’know.” He says, “Have you given up?”

You glance back at him, watching how Leo is completely slumped against the wall, his eyes half-lidded as he uses the wall to support himself up.

“Have you?”

He scowls, “We’re gonna fucking die in this dingy abandoned subway station. Should’ve lent your ability to Cap.”

“... He doesn’t want me doing that.” You look away from Leo, mumbling.

“Yeah, well maybe we wouldn’t be fucking dying if you had!”

Leo stares at your back, eyes widening as he hears a quiet sob from you. You bring your knees up to your chest, wrapping your arms around yourself as tears roll down your face uncontrollably, “If I had the chance to, I would have!”

Your shoulders shook as you struggled to breathe, “It’s not like I want to die! I’m only at Darkwick so I won't die– If I could, I would have never come here! I wouldn’t– hic– have gone to that concert– I wouldn’t have taken that– sob– train– I wouldn’t have done any of it!”

Leo doesn’t say anything, a pang of guilt weighing him down.

“I fucking hate this school! I hate missions, I hate–” You break down, watching how your blood runs down your arms, your hands sticky with semidried blood.

You look back at Leo, and he physically recoils at how broken you look. Your face is contorted into misery, blood dripping down your forehead, down your cheek and into your tears, nose runny.

“Don’t..” Leo’s face crumples up as he turns his face away from you, “Don’t make that stupid fucking face..”

He covers his mouth, regretting his former words and wanting to stop anything else from coming out. You turn away, stars prickling the edges of your vision and slowly closing in on you as you grow lightheaded. You hear Leo say something, though you can barely hear it, your ears ringing.

“... sorry. Okay?”

You turn back to him.

“I’m sorry. Just… just stop crying, please.” Leo’s expression is twisted into desperation, his face scrunched up as if he was trying not to cry.

You don’t move, don’t say anything, as Leo pulls you in towards him, gently pushing your head down onto his shoulder. He locks his arm around yours, snaking his hand down to your fingers and holding them. You sob quietly, trying to level your breathing.

“Haxs.”

You don’t understand what he’s trying to listen for as your vision slowly fades out, your eyes squeezing shut.

Badum. Badum.

Leo listens to the sound, using it to ground himself. He closes his eyes, imaging it as a line in his head, the line jolting up to the rhythm. Leo frowns as it starts to slow down in a decrescendo, squeezing your hand harder like it’ll rejuvenate the sound again.

But it doesn’t.

“Oof..” Haru grimaces as he looks over your body, taking a mental note of every injury.

Your legs are certainly broken, bruised and twisted into abstract angles, minor cuts across your skin, and your once pristine school blouse is completely stained red. Haru crouches down beside you, his expression clouded with worry, “You’re going to be okay..”

He gently reaches for the collar of your shirt and pulls it down ever so slightly, just enough to catch a glimpse of the bloody gash staining your shirt. His breath catches in his throat and you notice his gaze lingering over it.

“Gyhaha.. Good thing I found you, yeah?” Haru laughs, but it sounds hollow, as though he’s only trying to lighten your mood.

“Anomaly, yeah?” He tilts his head.

You nod, “It– It.. has these strings planted all across the forest that cut you up..”

“Don’t worry, I’ll get us out of here!”

You groan as Haru gently slides one arm beneath your knees and the other around your back, lifting you up carefully against his chest. He glances around the dark forest, it took a while to find you– forty minutes of urgent searching from the entrance of the forest without the use of his stigma.. With it, maybe he could get the both of you out in twenty. Reaching the Galaxy Express would add on twenty more minutes with the use of his stigma..

“Mm.. hold on tight, ‘kay y/n?” Haru smiled.

“R.. right.” You murmur.

“Bahnti.”

He launches forward, the forest surrounding the two of you becoming a blur. He’s hardly touching the ground before pushing off again, urgency apparent in his movements.

“Do.. Do you know where Ren and Towa are?” You ask quietly.

“Mm.. Ren found me and Towa, said he had no idea where you had gone.” Haru answers, “We ended up splitting up a bit ago.”

You turn your head against his chest, eyes slowly shutting close for a moment. Haru glances down at you.

“Unh-uh-uh! Don’t fall asleep on me, y/n.” Haru bumps his arms up to nudge you awake.

Your eyes flutter open again, still feeling drunk with fatigue as you raise your head back up. Something in the quickly approaching distance catches your eye though– a thin white string, barely illuminated by the moonlight. You cry out, pushing yourself off of Haru’s chest and crashing hard onto the ground, dirt and leaves scraping your skin. The sudden shift throws Haru off balance, his foot tripping over your body, sending him tumbling forward. There’s a sharp slinging sound as his body is cut by the string before a harsh thump as he hits the ground.

“H-Haru?..” You gingerly glance towards his body, fearing for the worst.

You hear him groan in pain, relief flooding through your body though it’s cut short as you see him sit up. His shirt’s been cut in two, a diagonal cut so thick it spans across his entire torso.

“D-Don’t worry!” You watch as he reaches into his pocket for his phone, “I can still call Towa and Ren for help–”

Haru fumbles with his phone, mumbling to himself as he types on the cracked screen. He crawls towards you, helping to support you onto the back of a tree.

“...Sorry, y/n.” Haru sighs, “I really shouldn’t have tried to play white knight..”

He falls back on the soft grass with a gentle thud, spreading his arms out.

“Are… are they coming?” You wrap your arms around yourself.

Haru thinks for a moment, as if not sure what to say before nodding, “...Yeah. So don’t worry, ‘kay?”

You rub your arms against your shoulder, trying to warm up as a cool breeze drifts through the forest, hunching over slightly.

“Getting cold?” Haru sits up, moving to sit beside you before wrapping an arm around your shoulders and pulling you in a bit closer.

You lean in against his warmth, “...Thank you. Do they know where we are?”

Haru turns his phone over against the dirt, rubbing a hand along your shoulder.

“Mhm! Don’t you worry, okay?” He smiles down at you, “You can rest now.”

You let out a sigh as your head drops against Haru’s shoulder, eyes heavy, the soft humming of Haru slowly lulling your eyes shut.

“Hurts.” You murmur.

“I know, I know..” Haru whispers, gently caressing you, “Just close your eyes..”

You briefly see him staring at his phone before your eyes close, wondering what could have possibly made Haru frown like that.

Shit sorry me and towa got lost, where r u guys??

“Shit, shit..” Ren winces, trying to lift his head up.

His legs aren’t there, instead there’s a line of blood smudged across the sand from where he washed up on shore. Ren glances to his side, the sand around your figure stained red, your left leg missing as well, eyes closed– shit. He lets his head hit the sand again, squeezing his eyes shut.

“I hate the ocean, I hate sand, I hate this mission, I hate this stupid fucking scho–”

“..Ren..?”

Ren yelps, turning to you on his side a bit too quickly and instantly regretting it, “Ow– y/n– you’re ali– you’re awake!”

You groan, head heavy and your thoughts muddled. You blink against the setting sun, orange hues of light raining down on both you and Ren as you try and pull yourself up.

“Whoa, whoa– what’re you doing?!” Ren says as he pulls you back down to ground.

You furrow your brow, looking around the beach in confusion, “We need to find Haru and Towa–”

Ren’s mouth went agape, staring at you like you’ve gone crazy, “Did you hit your fucking head too?! Look around!”

You sit in silence for a moment, looking around and finally realizing the situation you were in. This wasn’t the same beach the four of you had taken off on for your mission, you were stranded on some random patch of sand in the middle of nowhere. Your thoughts felt sluggish, like your whole head was wading through water, heavy but not painful. You finally take notice of the aching feeling below your left knee and glance down, screaming.

“Where’s my leg– What happened?!” You wheeze, clutching your chest as you begin breathing quicker than you should.

“Okay, okay– calm down–” Ren places a hand on your back, “We went out looking for this shark anomaly that’s been killing fishermen, and it– overturned our boat. Bit us.”

Oh. You remember now. The two of you had been plunged into the water, Ren had wrapped his arms around you, curling you under him to protect you– but you couldn’t remember anything after that.

You instinctively reached for your phone, just to be met by wet fabric. Of course. You fell into the fucking ocean, of course it’s gone. The emotional distress starts hitting you as the shades of the sunset begin fading into night, a cool breeze hitting the two of you. You choke out a sob– an ugly one, tears rolling down your face as you sniffle, “How’s anyone going to find us?!”

“Take… take a deep breath..” Ren mumbles.

“Lay back on the sand. Focus on it, okay?” He moves his hand towards yours.

You lean your head back, trying to level your breathing, stars appearing in the sky one by one above the two of you.

“What.. sniff.. What are we gonna do?..” You whimper.

Ren doesn’t answer, rubbing his thumb up and down your hand, a helpless ache in his chest. He wishes he could help you. He wishes that he knew what he could say to you to make you feel better but everything he thinks of feels useless.

“...Look. How many stars do you see?” Ren asks.

You go silent, blinking in confusion. You don’t understand why he’s asking but something in you answers anyways, “... A lot. More than in Tokyo.”

Ren hums in agreement, “Yeah, you can see ‘em a lot better without all the light pollution and crap.”

He points to a line of stars brighter than the others, “That’s the Andromeda constellation.”

You look over to the bundle of stars, “It looks like someone falling.”

“...Kinda cool, yeah?” Ren says, “I remember my dad talking about it.”

You turn your head to look at him as he continues, “It’s based on some Greek tale, it’s about this princess who gets sacrificed to this sea monster, but she gets saved by some dude.”

“Anyways, they get married and stuff.. After she died she got turned into a constellation.” Ren shrugs it off, “I think it’s kinda corny.”

You turn back to look at the constellation, the stars twinkling at you, “Do you think everyone who dies turns into a star?”

Ren pauses for a moment, “... Maybe, sure. I don’t see why not.”

You let out a soft breath and smile, squeezing his hand, “That doesn’t sound too bad.”

He glances over at you, watching you for a moment, your face now calm and still. Something about how you don’t say anything else makes his chest tighten. He turns his gaze back towards the sky, staring at how much brighter the stars in the sky were away from everyone but you, before closing his own eyes.

Maybe you two will get your own constellation too.

Towa smiles as he pushes more and more trays of thinly sliced fish fillet and steamed vegetables.

“C’monnn~ You should eat more..” Towa lifts a piece of fish up in between two pinched fingers, bringing it towards you.

“I– I’ve already had, like, twenty plates, Towa–” You turn your head away from him.

Towa puffs out his cheeks, looking at you through his lashes, “Don’t you have room for dessert?”

You sigh, glancing at Towa’s poutful expression then down at the small plate he had slid over to you– a dark chocolate glaze torte graced with a single raspberry on top. Towa doesn’t say anything, simply batting his eyes at you and putting on his best puppydog look as you sigh in defeat, causing him to instantly light up and lift the fork up to your mouth. You take a small bite, watching as Towa smiles.

“Is it good, Dandelion?” He tilts his head.

You nod, just as a female servant who had stood in the corner of the room gathers your finished plates.

“I’m glad you’re enjoying your meal.” She stacks the plates in her arms.

As she’s collected the last of the dishes, she pauses, offering you a small smile out of politeness. You don’t think it should, but her smile unnerves you. Like someone behind her, someone you can’t see, has hooked their fingers into the corner of her mouth, pulling them up. She steps back, turning away from you towards the doors of the dining hall.

“Gehehe, this mission’s super easy, right Dandelion?” Towa pulls you up as soon as you’ve finished your dessert.

“Uhm.. we should stay cautious, Towa.” You say, “It’s certainly not… normal… just getting treatment like this.”

He frowns, “Well, Ren and Haru are investigating.. And they haven’t found anything! So..”

Towa gently takes your hand, leading you up the stairs and guiding you through the corridor back to your appointed guest room for the night, soft candleglow flickering across the shadows of the hall.

“Let’s have fun, ‘kay?” He turns the knob, opening the door for you.

Towa follows behind, shutting the door as you enter your room.

You glance at Towa, a small twinge of disappointment behind his smile, your heart sinking just a little. He just wanted to spend time with you. Towa rocks back and forth on his heels like a child waiting for attention.

“... Okay, I guess you’re ri–”

A sharp, blinding pain explodes through your head, light a needle has cracked through your skull. Your hands immediately shoot up to the dome of your head, some invisible force crushing your brain from the inside.

“... Dandelion?” Towa places his hands over yours.

Your vision has shifted, nothing staying perfectly still. The floorboards underneath you seem to wobble, everything around you seemingly melting into a vortex.

“My head– owowow..” You hiss.

“...Huh? Dandelion, what’re you saying?” Towa kneels down a bit to look you in the eye.

“Towa– you need to– call Haru and Ren– the anomaly–”

Towa whines, shaking his head, “Mmnmh! Nothing you’re saying is making sense!!”

You fall to the ground, still cradling your head, “Haru– Haru!!”

Towa still doesn’t seem to understand, brows furrowing in confusion as you spoke again, he huffs, “I don’t understand!”

You shakily reach for your phone, tapping the screen, “Call Haru!”

Towa bends down and picks up your phone, the sound of him ringing Haru following just moments later. The sound of dialing drawls on, pounding on in your head.

“He won’t pick up.” Towa frowns, “I’ll go find hi–”

You hear Towa crying out above you before you see him falling to the ground next to you, hands wrapped around his head as he writhed in pain across the ground.

“Head hurts, head hurts, head hurts…” Towa whimpers, hunching his body in on himself.

You place your hands against the side of his face, rotating his head to face you. Thunder crashes outside the mansion, the sound echoing in your head and around your body, “Towa, stop, stop, please–”

Towa garbles in response, his words coming out strangled and choked, “Herhipmsr, izivcxlmrk lyvxw–”

You blink in confusion, but when you reopen your eyes, the world around you has shifted into something you can’t understand. You should understand that the dresser behind Towa is a dresser, that the ceiling is the ceiling, the floor is the floor, but nothing makes sense no matter how much you go over it in your head. The only thing that your brain seems to register is Towa’s agonized face, crying profusely.

“Evi ai ksmrk xs hmi..?” Whatever he says comes out like a question as he looks at you with those broken eyes, his chest heaving up and down.

You shake your head, unsure of what he’s asking. A streak of heat pours out your eyes, running down your face. You lift a hand to your cheek, swiping the liquid and taking a look at it. You think you would’ve been happier if it was just tears but instead there’s a swipe of red across your fingertips. Your eyes widen as you glance back up at Towa, small prickles of red swirling in his tears.

“M pszi csy, Herhipmsr–” He hiccups, “Rs qexxiv alex lettirw–”

Your head explodes with a sudden, wet crack, a thick geyser of blood splattering across the floor and Towa’s face, his eyes widening as rivulets of your blood run down his face.

“... Dandelion.”

His voice is quiet as he stares at where your eyes should be, where your head was.

“Did… did you hear me?”

He’s not sure why he’s asking, he hasn’t even begun to process where you’ve gone.

“... Where’d you go, Dandelion?”

“Aah, kitty.” Taiga stumbles over towards you.

It’s almost terrifying watching him drag his feet towards you, blood dripping down his face in slow, thick rivulets and staining his once white shirt red. The sheen of blood glistens under a flickering light, and you immediately realize. Something is wrong. Very wrong. That’s not the anomalies blood. Even though you can see the anomaly thrashing violently for its life just out of focus, spewing blood across the room and all over Taiga, you can tell. You can tell the blood covering him is his own. He drops to his knees in front of you, running a hand across your cheek. He chuckles.

“What’re you still scared for?” Taiga tilts his head, “It’s dead.”

“You’re– you’re..” You swallow, shaking, “You’re… bleeding.”

He doesn’t answer. A chill runs down your spine as he smiles, looking uncannily calm.

“You are too.”

You look down at the laceration that tore apart your stomach, your uniform had been entirely stained into a crimson red color, you hadn’t even noticed your viscera exposed on your lap. The sight sickens you and you shoot your face up to look at Taiga. He’s not smiling anymore, but his hand is still caressing your face.

“Does it hurt?”

You don’t answer. Taiga already knows the answer, of course he does. Taiga closes the distance between the two of you, the heat of his breath mingling with your own as he kisses you. It’s like a thunderstorm– rough, unrestrained, full of emotion. The metallic taste of blood fills your mouth, as he pushes you deeper into the kiss. You rip your face back, panting.

You hear the cling of his artifact chain, watching in fear as he loads in exactly two bullets next to each other in the chamber.

Taiga presses the cold metal square up against the middle of your forehead.

You open your mouth to protest, but nothing comes out. You’re in pain. So much pain. A searing jolt tears through your stomach every second, sharper and sharper, like hot knives twisting deeper inside you. Tears stream down your cheeks. You wish they could pour down your whole body, encasing you, wiping away all the pain but no matter how hard you sob, the pain only grows.

“Spin.” Taiga’s voice is empty.

It doesn’t have that same convivial quality to it. Like he’s forcing himself to do this, for you. You shakily reach your hand up to the barrel of the revolver, weakly spinning it. Taiga presses down on the trigger. Click.

“Spin.” He says again.

You spin the barrel again with more strength, squeezing your eyes shut as you hear him squeeze the trigger. Click.

“... Spin.”

You keep your eyes closed as you roll the barrel one more time. Taiga doesn’t press down on the trigger right away, hesitating before he pulls it. Bam.

His eyes don’t follow your body as it slumps to the floor. Without blinking, he moves the tip of the smoking gun up against the temple of his forehead, focusing on the heat radiating from the nozzle. You’ve only been gone for him three seconds now. Three seconds too much, and he wants to catch up with you. He presses down on the trigger.

Bam.

Romeo kneels down behind the crumbling wall, the ruins overlooking a large chunk of the forest covering the island. You hear a clinging sound as he sets his sniper rifle atop the weathered edges of the ruin. He peers his eye into the scope, mumbling to himself as his eye searches for its target.

“Romeo–” You were sitting against the wall, hand clutched over your bloodstained shirt.

“I know. It’s okay.” Romeo gently hushes your pained sniffling, adjusting his rifle.

You’re slumped across the crumbling wall, your hand clenched over the fabric of your school button-up, now blossoming red stains all across the front of your chest. You whimper, finger fidgeting with the ring Romeo had given you, stammering as you try to catch his attention.

“I already gave you the last vial of anomalous medicine Darkwick provided..” He frowns, “TGA.. The reconnaissance squad has refused to pick us up until the anomaly has been taken care of.”

“No–” You garble, choking out blood, “You– can’t–”

Bam.

Romeo watches as the bullet whizzes through the trees, locking directly onto the anomaly’s chest. There’s a piercing sound, and for a moment, Romeo believes the anomaly has been hit, but instead, there’s blood splattering out of his chest as if he was shot. Romeo’s body hunches forward, coughing out red rivulets of blood across the ground. Romeo shifts up onto the cold, uneven wall next to you with a wince. He clenches his teeth, cursing under his breath.

“... Is that how you got injured then?” Romeo sighs, glancing at the puncture wound in your chest.

You nod. When the two of you had gotten separated, you had come across the anomaly, panicking until you remembered the knife Romeo had given you in case anything went wrong. It did pierce through the flesh of the anomaly, but you immediately recoiled when you felt a burst of heat ripping your chest open.

“I’m sorry, I was trying to–”

He hisses in frustration, silencing you, “It doesn’t matter. It’s that SSA’s fault.”

SSA? Stupid shifty academy?

Romeo clutches his chest, looking down at the red stains smearing his fingertips, jaw clenched.

He didn’t speak, didn’t need to; you could tell how frustrated he was just by sitting next to him. It’s not that you didn’t share the same sentiment as him. You were upset too, but your chest hurt so much you didn’t want to move. Didn’t want to speak, didn’t want to do anything. Just crumple up so you wouldn’t keep hurting. You hear Romeo grunt, glancing at you. You touch your face, realizing you had been crying. You wipe your face with the edge of your elbow, but it doesn’t do much as you keep on sobbing, tears staining the arm of your shirt.

“It’s fine.”

“How– How can you say that though?!” You sob, voice cracking as your words come out between gasps, “Is anyone even coming for us?!”

He tutted, still clutching his chest and looking up at the sun fading behind the horizon, “... I know we’re alone.”

“I know we’re going to be alone. I know no one’s coming for us, y/n.” Romeo turns to you, “But I’m here. That has to count for something.”

You open, then close your mouth, whispering, “We’re going to die.”

He doesn’t say anything, moving his free hand down to yours. You glance down, watching as he intertwines his fingers with yours. That ring. Romeo had on the ring matching yours, a black platinum ring. Your eyes scrunch up again as you remember the times you’ve spent with Romeo, your first ever mission, the little gifts, the dates, everything.

“The anomaly is still here on this island, when reconnaissance–”

“We can take it down with us.” Romeo squeezes your hand.

“Huh?”

You look over at Romeo, confused, before your eyes widen in realization. “Rome–”

“...Tiris.”

You don’t get to witness what happens next. The explosion tore through the entire island, a column of smoke blowing debris straight into the sky, bits of ash falling to the sea. For a split second before he said his incantation, Romeo wondered.

How big would the explosion be if he had actually touched you, and not the ring?

White tiny parasites shaped like spiders, gnaw at the skin of your ankle, chewing through your flesh and bone. You try to move, crawl away, kick them off of you, anything. But you can’t.

“Parasite du corps..” Ritsu mumbles into his recording device, “...injects a paralytic into any living being..”

The two of you are staring at each other, bodies limp against the ground, faces squished against the pavement of a Tokyo alleyway. A pale green LED sign lights up the outline of Ritsu’s expression against the rainsoaked night– agony cracked into his usual calm expression.

“Shinjo..” You mumble, “...Why didn’t you use your stigma?”

Ritsu stops talking into his recorder, meeting your gaze solemnly. He doesn’t answer, simply pursing his lips, swallowing any words he might’ve said as rain drips down his cheek.

“If– if you use it– you won’t die!--” You use your last bit of strength to move your hand closer to his, trying to nudge the recorder out of his hand.

Ritsu inches his hand away from yours, watching as confusion and shock flashes across your face.

“I’m.. I’m simply collecting information about the anomaly.” He says firmly.

There’s a pang in his heart as your face crumpled up into sobs, your cries barely heard over the thunder and rain, although no less real. No less painful to watch as your weeping muffles against the wet asphalt.

“I can enhance your stigma–” Your hand shakes as you reach for him again.

Ritsu reaches into your touch, wincing as the anomaly burrows deeper into his body. His hands intertwine with yours, slowly caressing his thumb against your hand. But he doesn’t say his stigma incantation. He doesn’t open his mouth.

You wince in pain, trying to raise your head to glance down at your body. You can’t see your feet anymore, the colony of parasites eating your flesh completely down to the bone and moving up your leg, completely covering your lower legs, a circle of red bulging through the translucent skin of the bugs.

“Shinjo!–” You cry out.

“...I’m sorry, y/n.” He replies, “I can’t do anything in this situation. I apologize.”

“Yes, yes! You can–!” You grasp onto his hand tighter, “You can live.”

Ritsu doesn’t say anything to that, staring into your eyes before averting his gaze downward towards the pavement.

“... Ritsu.” Your eyes widen a bit, “Why aren’t you doing anything?”

The LED signs across the alleyway flicker.

“We don’t need it.” He says quietly, voice cracking before he regains his composure, “It will only work on me.”

You’re not sure what to say, and Ritsu keeps his gaze shamefully averted to the ground. The pain shooting up from your legs throughout your body eats up almost every word that could possibly come out anyways. Ritsu doesn’t seem to react roughly to the pain, biting his lip down and wincing every few seconds, although you can tell his conscience is fading, his teal irises watery.

“...Are you still…” Ritsu pauses, as though choosing his words, “... awake?”

You hum in response.

“I’m sorry for going against your wishes, y/n.” His fingers grip yours a bit tighter, “I love you.”

“Wh–”

“I apologize if this feels sudden, y/n.” Ritsu frowns, “It was not my intention to put you on the spot. I don’t believe I will have another time to tell you.”

“No, it’s fine.. I-” You inch closer to him, “I love you too.”

Ritsu’s face lays close to yours, his breath shallow. His face shakes, lip quivering, parted just slightly, as if the words– or kiss– were right there, the action trembling on becoming real. Getting closer to you. But he couldn’t move. You can see the struggle in his eyes, the yearning wrapped in frustration. You want to close the distance yourself, but you can hardly move. A tightness coils in your chest as the paralytic creeps higher, each breath you let out shallower than the last, until your lungs refuse to obey, frozen in place just like the rest of your body. You try to speak. To say one last thing to Ritsu.

Ritsu watches helplessly as the light slowly fades from your eyes, any emotion you harbored draining along with you. You don’t choke for air desperately, seemingly accepting your fate. Maybe you wanted to, but you couldn’t. Ritsu’s breath catches in his chest as he stares into your eyes, glassy and distant, like you’re not anchored to the world once around you. Maybe the paralytic has sprouted into his lungs as well, making him unable to exhale, maybe the sight of your corpse has completely taken his breath away. Whatever it is, the parasites consume his and your flesh whole, leaving absolutely nothing behind. No clothes, no blood, no bones, nothing. Only Ritsu’s recorder was recovered by the Darkwick cleanup squad, playing only the distorted sound over and over when played.

“I love you.”

“... I’m sorry–” A tear falls down Subaru’s porcelain face as he stares at you.

The two of you lay side by side, breath shallow as you stared at one another, the air of your onsen ryokan room is damp with the smell of sulfur and earthy wood. Blood bleeds across the tatami mats in a deep, red stain.

“I’m sorry– I’m sorry y/n–” His face crumples up as he turns his gaze away from you.

You swallow, your mouth tasting metallic, “It’s not your fault.”

Just earlier in the night, while the two of you were asleep, someone had slid the door open. Too quietly for you to realize what was going to happen next, as you could hardly hear the soft creak of the wood. Then she stepped inside—an abnormally tall woman with long black hair covering her face. She didn’t say anything, didn’t make a sound as she moved across the tatami, muilating your bodies with a knife.

“I’m not a good fighter like Alan, nor am I as levelheaded as Haku–”

“Subaru..” You reach your hand towards him, brushing a lock of his disheveled hair out of his eyes, “It’s.. okay.”

Subaru’s shoulders tremble softly as he cries, moving onto his back and wiping his tears away, “I don’t know how you’ve kept so much faith in me, y/n.”

“You’ve always been hardworking Subaru!” You say, “You’re more than capable.”

“There’s not much I could have done in this situation though..” Subaru glances over the blood staining the cotton of your yukata.

You turn your head towards him, unsure of what else to say, moving your hand over your heart. Your chest ached from both the pain and his words. Your vision grew fuzzy as Subaru continued speaking.

“You’re always so bright, y/n, and I.. I sometimes felt bad being around you. Like..” He turns his head towards you, meeting your gaze, “Like I didn’t belong near you. Even if this was just a mission.. I’m glad I got to go with you somewhere. You made today nice.”

You pause, closing your eyes to think back to today and letting the memory surround you. Sunny. It was sunny, the air humid and full of steam. You, Subaru, Alan, and Haku had been assigned to an Interhouse mission, sharing the hot springs together. You had made so many memories in your life, most good, some you’d rather forget. Coming to Darkwick was scary at first, the missions weren’t calming at all, yet this one hadn’t been too bad not considering your current circumstance. It was relaxing. Calming. Enough to put you to sleep.

“...y/n?” Subaru frowned as he noticed how still you were.

Subaru doesn’t need to check, your chest didn’t move, and the faint sound of your shaky breath he had been listening to was gone. With trembling fingers, Subaru slowly pulls off his glove. His hand shakily hovers over the mat for a moment before he reaches out and clutches the sleeve of your yukata. Maybe it’s greedy what he wants, but he doesn’t care.

“Talnandio.”

It’s sunny again, the two of you soaking in the hot springs.

“Careful, princess..” Haku pulls your arm over his head, helping lower you to sit against the nearest wall.

You slump over, hand covering the bleeding gash across the side of your stomach. Haku lowers himself next to you, letting a soft breath out and finally resting from the numerous gaping wounds he had.

“Good thing we got away, yeah?” He cocks his head towards you.

You nod, chewing on the bottom of your lip in pain.

Haku reaches into his pocket, expecting the vial of anomalous medicine he had brought on this mission, but instead finds nothing but fabric inside his pocket. He frowns, getting your attention.

“What’s wrong?”

Haku sheepishly glances at you then back at his pocket, “Uh, medicine must’ve slipped out while we were running.”

You paused, blinking, as you considered your situation. Both of you were bruised, bleeding an amount soon to become fatal, and had no idea how to get out of the labyrinth of lamplit wooden rooms. Haku wraps an arm around you, “Don’t worry, y/n.. We can still.. wait for Subaru and Zenji to find us.”

“R–Right.” You nod, but you don’t have much hope.

There’s a pool of blood spread out beneath the two of you, growing with every minute that passes by. Haku grumbles, checking over your cloth makeshift bandages from time to time before sighing, “... Doesn’t hurt too bad, does it?”

You purse your lips, glancing down, “Kind of.”

You pull your knees up to your chest, crossing your arms over them, “Haku?”

He hums in response, running his fingers through your hair.

“...Can you play your flute?”

Haku furrows his brow, puzzled but he does as you say, a clinging sound as he retrieves his flute from his special artifact chain. He hesitates only briefly before raising the mouthpiece to his lips, “What do you want me to play?”

“Uhm.. anything.” You lean into his chest as Haku begins to play.

You don’t realize it at first, but after the first few notes you seem to recognize the song from somewhere in your memories, “... Is this the same song you played on our first ever mission together?”

Haku doesn’t answer, the only sound in the air being that of the soft sounds of the flute. It calms you, brushing off the weight on your chest. For a moment, all the pain, fear, and confusion in your body fades, carried off by his flute.

“Ah.. don’t you use this for putting spirits to rest?” You smile, closing your eyes.

He doesn’t stop playing until your head falls over into his lap, unmoving.

If you can move on peacefully, Haku knows he can too.

Rui crawls across the floor, wrapping his hands around the ankle of the anomaly as it slowly approaches you. It writhes in pain, screeching as it slowly disintegrates, leaving nothing but a crimson red cloak and a paint porcelain mask. Rui pulls himself across the floor, a smear of blood following him.

“y/n.” He looks over you, eyes stopping on the numerous knife slashes all across your body.

You meet his gaze, unable to speak from the pain. Rui blows a kiss towards you, but it doesn’t have that same underlying charisma as usual. A golden mist cradles you, rocking away the worst parts of the pain until you’re only left with an aching feeling running throughout your body.

You sit up, noticing the pool of blood across the floor of the entire room. Is it yours? Rui’s? Both?

“No, no, lay down.” Rui turns his body up against the wall, panting as he rests.

“Your legs..” Your voice is shaky.

Rui glances down at his legs, cracked impossibly into abstract shapes, he winces, “It’s okay, don’t worry about me y/n.”

He slides down the wall to lay next to you in your own pool of blood, ignoring it. Rui isn’t dumb. He knows neither of you are going to get out of here alive, you’ll only be seen again when a Darkwick cleanup team is sent in to recover your bodies when the school gets suspicious of your lack of communication.

“Does it still hurt?” Rui asks.

You shake your head, causing Rui to smile just a bit. At least he can help mellow your pains.

“I don’t want to die like this.” You whisper.

You turn your head towards him, “... You can survive if you take my life force, right Rui?”

Rui subconsciously moves his ungloved hands behind his back, “No, no. Even if I did, I can’t heal from this.”

“At least… at least kill me yourself.” Your voice quivers as tears streamed down your cheek, “I don’t want to die to an anomaly. Not like the Kyklos.”

Rui’s eyes widen as you turn your face to hide it from him.

“... You know, y/n.” Rui sighs, “I wish… I wish we met under different circumstances.”

You stare at the ceiling as Rui talks, “Maybe in another universe. Where neither of us are cursed. Where I can touch you, where you’re not counting down the days until death–”

He pauses, “..Do you believe in reincarnation?”

When you don’t answer, Rui goes on, “Maybe in another life. Neither of us are cursed, we don’t know about Darkwick or anomalies.. We can live normally.”

Stars prickle the corner of Rui’s vision, “y/n. If.. if we had a family.. Maybe.. What would you name our kids?”

“..Akane, maybe.” You whisper, like a secret meant for only you and Rui, “I had a friend named Akane before coming to Darkwick. We were close.”

You reminisce on the last night the two of you had talked– the night you were cursed. You had rocked each other back and forth as your favorite band played their last ever concert before disbanding, yelling to the song. More pleasant memories flash through your head, late night karaoke with your friends, shopping, but there’s more. There’s more memories from when you first arrived at Darkwick. Getting into trouble with Kaito and Luca, mornings spent rounding up anomalous animals in Jabberwock, walks through Hotarubi.. Meeting Rui. It all feels like a dream in your head. Is this the last seven minutes before death? You don’t know.

“I’m sorry. I… I just want to talk to you before I touch you.” Rui inches his hand a small bit closer to yours, “... y/n. I– I love you.”

The words don’t come out smoothly like a flirtatious comment. They come out desperate. Desperate for you to know that despite all the times he seemed like a playboy, a womanizer, he loved you. Rui squeezes his eyes shut, not wanting to see the life drain from you as he intertwines his fingers with yours. Your hand is warm and softer than silk, unlike anything he’s felt before. He waits for your hand to go cold. He waits for you to cry out in pain. But it doesn’t come.

Rui opens his eyes, turning to look at you before he feels his own blood go cold. No wonder you hadn’t died from his touch.

You were already dead.

Lyca barks, backing up against a tree as the naga, half-snake, half-human, slowly approached, forking its tongue out at the two of you. It lunges toward him with a screech, biting down on his arm before Lyca swipes at it with his claws, ripping its torso to shreds. You watch as it slithers away, body slowly disintegrating. Lyca turns to you, kneeling down.

“C’mon. Let’s go before anything else happens.”

You shake your head, clutching your shoulder, “I– I can’t.. Move my legs.”

Lyca glances down at your legs before meeting your gaze, “What? How come?”

“The venom– it bit me.” You chew on your bottom lip nervously, “I can’t walk.”

“It’s fine.” You’re barely registering what’s happening as Lyca hoists you up, his arm under your thighs before he pulls you over his shoulder like a potato sack.

“L–Lyca! Weren’t you bitten too?” You grasp the back of his shirt with your hands.

“Huh? Oh. Yeah.” He speaks into the side of your thigh, “Why?”

“... It’s going to paralyze you too–”

Just as the words leave your mouth, Lyca’s legs give out, his body dropping to the floor like a rock thrown into water. You held your hands out, bracing your impact as you hit the ground with a thud. You glance around, noticing Lyca clutching onto the fabric of your shirt before using his arm to pull himself up across the dirt, his face meets yours.

“Do.. Do you have your phone?” Lyca asks, his expression scared for once, searching for comfort in your own, “We can call blondie–..”

You stiffly pat yourself down, unable to find your phone before shaking your head. Lyca’s ears flatten against his head as his gaze averts towards the ground, frowning.

“Ed said something about this, didn’t he?..” Your eyes trail towards the night sky above you, watching as the leaves rustle, “He said.. Something like this would happen..”

“... Don’t listen to that wrinkly sybarite.” Lyca clenches his teeth, “We’ll be fine.”

You purse your lips together, trying to ignore the numbness creeping up your abdomen, your senses dulling.

“... Are you sure, Lyca?” The words leave your mouth quietly.

Lyca lowers his head slightly, the edge of his lips curving back, the sharp edge of his teeth poking through, just the corner of his canines showing through as he grumbled in his throat, a quivering, lowly sound. He doesn’t respond, burying the side of his face closer to the dirt.

You move your slowly numb-becoming hand to the top of his head, resting it there.

“This isn’t fair.” He growls, squeezing his eyes shut, “I– I still haven’t seen Neros..”

Your fingers brush through his hair slowly, hand weak as Lyca’s voice quivers quietly.

“At least..” Lyca pauses, “At least we’re together.”

You smile at the small sentiment, your eyes half-lidded as you look at him, moving your hand down to his and lifting his middle and pointer finger between your own. Lyca watches as your body slowly goes limp, your fingers still intertwined with one another. His throat whined as he looked down at your hands together, staring at how his claws splintered at the edges wrapped around your own fingers, delicate and soft. Stupid.

What good were they now? He couldn’t even protect you.

Yuri grumbles under his breath as he tosses a handful of bloodied, crumpled up tissues into the trash, missing the bin once before angrily shoving them in. The hotel room had been converted into Yuri’s temporary office, the room faintly smelling like antiseptic and bleach. He wipes his hands on a towel, sighing, as he turns back to you sitting on the desk.

“It’ll be easier to find a cure once we get back to Mortkranken.” He says.

“...Right.”

Your voice comes out thick, like it’s been muffled from inside of you.

“Darkwick is sending transportation tomorrow morning,” Yuri crosses his arms, “That forsaken school…”

He turns away, peeling off his plastic gloves with a snap, flinging them into the bin. He rubs his throat, lightly coughing, dry and sharp– then freezes. Yuri stared down into his hand, eyes narrowing as he sees a faint streak of red across his palm.

Yuri slowly turns back towards you, a short flicker of uneasiness breaking through his gaze. He opens his mouth as if to speak, but instead, another cough comes out. Yuri doubles forward slightly, grasping the sides of the desk, his head hung above your lap.

“Yuri–”

Your breath hitches as you notice something as he raises his head– soft white petals coated with Yuri’s blood. A sense of dread rises in your throat as you stare down at the petals, Yuri quickly wiping them off your lap.

“.. Nevermind that. It–” He stammers, “It takes numerous days for the disease to fully take hold.”

He glances out the thin curtains of the hotel window, moonlight pressing through the glass before he slips his arm around you helping you towards the bed. You can feel his body trembling against you as he supports you up, and just as you near the bed, you feel yourself falling.

Yuri’s body gives out, the two of you hitting the carpet with a thud. You glance over at Yuri, watching as a cough tears through his lungs, choking up sputters of blood and petals onto the ground.

Yuri clasps a hand over his mouth, trying to stop, “How–”

“How is this happening–” He gags, a whole flower coming out.

Yuri levels his breathing, heaving his chest as he lays on the ground next to you.You turn your head towards him, trying to think of comforting words to say, parting your lips only to find nothing coming out of your mouth. Yuri’s eyes widen as he stares at the tiny purple buds of hyacinth and crumpled white flower blossoms filling your throat and mouth.

It’s not supposed to happen this fast. How has it managed to take hold of him so quickly? Was he ignoring it this whole time— Just to realize now? You had been sick for much longer than Yuri had though, he spent each night doting on you to make sure it hadn’t gotten out of control. Why did it only flare up now?

Yuri reaches his hand out towards yours, you grab on watching as Yuri struggles to say his stigma incantation through the flowers filling his body.

“Agh– nit.”

“Haaghnaet.”

You can see the tears pooling in his eyes again. He can solve this. He can solve this. He knows he can.

“Agnihaet.”

Right. Right, he knows about this disease– he’s read about it before. The Hanahaki disease is caused by an anomaly taking hold of your body and filling your lungs and esophagus with flowers until you’re eventually consumed by it. And the only way to cure it–

Yuri’s eyes widen.

You watch as Yuri tries to speak, his lips moving around sounds that barely sounded like words. Yuri’s voice was strained, completely muffled by the white peonies filling up his mouth, petals dropping out onto the floor.

“Hrggh– love– yaaghh–” Yuri clutches his chest, flowers blooming too fast for him to cough out.

His breaths coming out in short, puffs, his fingers digging into the floor, as he fought past the flowers choking him out. His voice trembled as he cried out,

“I love you!–”

He expects the flowers to clear out right away, after all that’s what he’s read. But after each passing second, he can only feel the oxygen being stomped out of his lungs. Do you not feel the same?

No. You do. He was simply too late.

Jiro staggers over, pinning himself over you as protection as the jorogumo– a half-woman, half-spider– screams, falling to the floor. It had attempted to hook its talons through Jiro’s chest, the attack being reflected onto itself. The domain of webs and woven cocoons that once surrounded the two of you slowly disintegrate into the same dirt of the forest floor.

You wince, the pain that had once been covered up by your adrenaline was now amplified, shooting up throughout your body causing you to cry out in pain.

“Jiro, Jiro– off– off?” You try to say but Jiro doesn’t move.

His head is shaking, pupils dilated as he stares at your face with his own deathly pale expression. You fight the pain, helping move Jiro off of you and onto the ground as you make the realization.

“Your medicine..”

Jiro coughs weakly, trying to get up only to get pushed down by you, “Need to– carry you back.”

Though, it’s no use. The both of you are too weak to move, Jiro’s condition overtaking him and your own injuries– a laceration running all the way from your knee and running up to your waist.

“I can walk us.” You insist, but you know you wouldn’t even be able to walk, much less support Jiro’s weight as well.

Jiro shakes his head, “You won’t be able to. The cut’s too– cough– deep.”

He lays his head back against the dirt, watching as you do the same. The night sky rips through the top of the trees, a deep and endless canvas dusted with stars. They shimmer full of life, like distant lanterns. There is no breeze, no rustle. Only the sound of cicadas humming through the forest and the sound of your own heartbeat ringing through your head. Both you and Jiro know it. This would be the last time either of you would get to feel the night, see the stars. You feel your chest well up with anxiety. You felt your breath slowing down as a cold hand wrapped itself around yours. Jiro.

His face is as indifferent as ever as he stares up at the sky with you.

“...Are you… are you not scared?” You ask.

Jiro doesn’t respond for a moment, tightening his grip on your hand though his strength is fading and his grip is weak, “I almost died once, already. I’m ready.”

His words weirdly comfort you, squashing the fear in you.

“I’m sorry. I should have tried harder to protect you.” He says quietly.

You wish you could find your voice to tell him that he did everything he could, but your pain tightens around your vocal cords like barbed wire. You squeeze his hand as tightly as you can, hoping the message gets across. The two of you lay there silently like that, the universe pausing around you. The stars are disappearing slowly, the blackness of the night sky stretching out across your whole vision. Jiro turns his face to look at you, already knowing what he’s going to see but the sight invokes a new emotion in him. He was never one to be afraid of dead bodies, but looking at yours caused tears to prick his eyes. He turns away, trying to forget the sight so it’s not the last thing he remembers. Jiro focuses on the feeling of his hand in yours, trying so desperately not to move so your limp hand doesn’t fall out of his.

The silence is deafening as Jiro feels his vision fading, all the things he wanted to tell you dying with him.

Ding dong!

"Akito, go get the door."

Akito sighs in annoyance as he hears his father's voice. Begrudgingly he stands up and leaves his room, dusting off his hoodie as he goes. It was pretty late, who could be at the door at this time of night?

Akito prepares himself to put on his 'nice' persona as he opens the door, but stops immediately once he sees who's there. His heart drops into his stomach and his grip on the door tightens.

You stood in front of him, sobbing quietly and rubbing your eyes, attempting to hide your tears. You were shivering, partially from the tears and partially from the frigid night air.

Akito snaps himself out of the brief shock he felt upon seeing you so distraught and steps forward, pulling you into his arms. You wordlessly cling onto him, seeking the comfort only he can provide. He presses a kiss to the side of your head and caresses your back tenderly. It's a special type of gentleness that only you receive.

Even though the two of you are standing outside, it's the warmest you've felt all night.

Akito eventually speaks up, his voice a low murmur. "Let's go inside."

You nod feebly, allowing him to lead you inside. The moment you catch a glimpse of his room, you feel more at ease. You've been here so many times, and every time, you're treated with nothing but love and kindness. This place is infinitely more comforting to you than the place you should call "home".

Akito sits you down on his bed and tightly wraps a blanket around your shoulders, before sitting down beside you. You instinctively lean against him, causing him to hug you close to his side.

The two of you are quiet momentarily. The only sounds to be heard are the rustling of leaves outside, movement elsewhere within Akito's home, and your quiet, shaky breaths.

Before Akito can say anything, you speak up.

"S-Sorry for, uh, popping up out of n-nowhere," you mutter. "They... I-I mean, I didn't want to, well. Be there. Anymore."

You screw your eyes shut and rub your face, letting out a sigh that sends a shudder through your whole body. When you had rushed out of your home, you hadn't even thought about where you were going. You were just running, and running, and running...

...until you ended up on Akito's doorstep.

Akito snaps you out of your thoughts by resting his cheek on the top of your head. "Don't apologise, seriously. You can always come to me. Especially in a time like this."

He rubs your back. "Do you wanna stay here? While everything's, y'know, calming down."

You lift your head to look at him, which causes him to frown slightly. It's the first time he's seen your face properly tonight. He hates seeing you like this.

"Is... Is that okay?" You ask softly. "I mean, what if your parents aren't find with it?"

He shrugs. "Don't worry about it. My mom likes you, she wouldn't say no to you."

That made you feel a little better, at least. You crack a tiny smile and hide your face in Akito's shoulder again.

"Thanks," you murmur. "Can we stay here, please? For a little while?"

Akito kisses the top of your head. "Of course. I'll always be by your side, 'kay?"

"...Thank you."