So you smile when your vision stops spinning and steps echo towards you, the sound here traveling in odd ways that make it hard to tell from which direction he approaches. The room is black and blurry, like he hasn’t bothered conjuring up proper surroundings this time.

A faint smell of ozone is your only warning before the static of Dark’s firm touch tingles up your arms. The burning heat of his hands seeps through your skin and you relax back into his chest, this simple possessive touch enough to cause desire to grip your insides. Those hands will be the end of you one of these days.

Your heart lurches when he gently turns you, taking your face in both of those wicked hands and descends on your lips, a kiss that screams I own you.

It seems he’s not much for words this time and you know better than to pry. His moods are hard to predict, especially whenever you search and call for him until you’ve needled him into action like you did today. Again.

One hand slides to the back of your head, the other down the front of your neck. Instead of resting there his palm slides up and presses on your throat just barely, but it's enough to ignite a kindling of primal fear inside of you.

Your hands instinctively reach up to grab his arm, surprised to meet ashen skin; he’s not wearing a jacket today, the sleeves of his shirt rolled up.

“Take some deep breaths now, little thing. They are going to be the last proper ones you will get.”

Despite his words all you manage to do is suck in a single desperate lungful of air before his grip tightens slowly but surely, not only constricting your blood flow but your windpipe as well. He has done this before, short squeezes of possession and demonstrations of power you quite enjoy.

But this time, he does not let go.

He walks you back, slow and sure, until he has you pressed against a hard surface and the panic sets in full force. You struggle, digging your nails into his skin and winding yourself under Dark’s unyielding body, feeling as helpless as ever as you look up into his unreadable face.

“I can feel your pulse fluttering so desperately under my fingers,” he murmurs against your lips. His fingers loosen just a tiny bit, enough for you to suck in some wheezing breaths past the resistance, the rattle in your throat loud in the room.

There’s a darkness in his eyes he usually reserves for anyone but you, and it’s a cold knife slipping between your ribs. Maybe you’ve been a little too demanding this time.

“I wonder how fast I can make your heart pound.” His grip tightens again, his growing smile all teeth. Have they always been this sharp? “Or how slow, making it stutter and skip.” The sultry tone of his voice is a stark contrast to his words and your choking noises.

Dark tilts his head, utterly fascinated by the blood rushing under his fingers to the rapid beat of your heart, having long forgotten the feeling of it. He quells the urge to press his ear to your breast in favor of taking in every single twitch of your face, the dilation of your pupils when he lets blackness creep into his eyes. The pinch of your eyebrows and jerk of your body when he feels his face contort and rip and twist, that existential, instinctual human fear gripping you in the face of his otherness.

Shadows start to dance in your vision, and it’s not the familiar ones following Dark. There’s black blood under your nails from how hard you are digging them into the bar of his arm, but he doesn’t pay it any mind while the strength leaves your body, the adrenaline no longer enough to keep up the fight without precious oxygen.

You want to tap out and stop this, but not as badly as you want to please Dark. So you hold on, trusting him with your life. You have to. If this is how he decides to put an end to this undefinable and dangerous dance you have been dancing with this entity, so be it.

His eyes are unblinking on yours, unbeknownst to you observing your awareness as much as looking for that moment you let go and stop fighting. The trust in your eyes causes a pleased smile to quirk his lips—that little smile that you like to think is only yours, that smile that always causes a dangerous warmth you shouldn’t feel for something like him to bloom in your chest.

“There’s my good pet.”

Just before the blackness threatens to overtake he loosens his grip and you almost choke on the first reflexive lungful of air—not because of the sudden breath, but from the fingers of his free hand slipping down your clothes and through the folds of your sex. They dip inside you easily, gathering the copious wetness to rub it ruthlessly into your clit. You’d fold forward as the wave of unexpected arousal hits you like a punch if it wasn’t for his hand still around your throat.

“You’re dripping. Was it my pretty face?” he asks amused, but the relief that comes with his lightheartedness fades as soon as it appeared when his form flickers, a phantom of his self sneering, “Or was it the reminder that all it takes for me to end you is a flick of my wrist if I were to tire of you yapping at my heels for attention?”

A broken moan is all you manage in answer. Warmth rises to your face when you notice how much his tirade affects you, your body clearly not as terrified as your mind. The insistent stimulation and blood rushing to your head escalates your pleasure until you can’t help but squirm and buck against him, hoarse, pleading noises escaping you while you still try to catch the breath he stole. The thumb stroking over your pulse sends a shiver down your spine and all you can think is more, again, more, but you can’t get your mouth to work.

The death grip you had on him turns into subtle pulls on his wrist with one hand, the other shamelessly groping the tensed muscles of his arm. Dark barely spares a glance to the revealed scratches you left on his skin and hums, voice almost a growl when he asks, “Again?”

You nod before he even finishes speaking.

“As you wish,” he scoffs at your eagerness, but obliges. You don’t get to safe a deep breath this time before he cuts off your air again, his fingers slipping inside you and teasing that perfect spot before returning to your clit in turn. He pushes you to the brink as much as you desperately scramble for it with bucking hips, the need to come almost merging with the need to breathe; your body screaming for one last hurrah in the face of your demise. He grants it when he brushes your silent lips with his before he abruptly loosens his grip around your neck the moment you start to fall over the edge.

The sudden rush of oxygen and endorphins pumping through your body is exhilarating, head-spinning, a high unlike anything you ever felt. The orgasm is almost blinding, pleasure rising until it’s too much to contain inside your body, bursting past the seams. You cling bonelessly onto Dark and he lets you, holding you to him when your knees give out as you tremble and gasp under his unrelenting touch until he allows the rush to taper off.

You don’t know how long you catch your breath in his arms, your mind getting a little dizzy again when you open your eyes to see him leisurely sucking your fluids from his fingers.

Feeling bold you reach for the button of his dress pants, but he stops you and smirks at your little disappointed whine.

“Off with you now, I have other places to be. You distract me.”

A sheepish and a little proud smile blooms on your face while he dismissively waves his hand to send you back, reality already pulling at your consciousness.

    Sure, she sometimes remembered what it was like to feel the sun on her skin, to look up at the sky and see a vast expanse of blue, and the stars at night, twinkling at her. To see a rainbow, somehow brightening her day the way only a rainbow could. 

But the sky was grey and ashy now, with the little rain they got mixed with the ashes, making her cough.

      “Aru? You coming?” a voice said.

Aru turned to the voice smiling, “I'm coming love, just give me a second, kay?” 

        Aru took a deep breath and steadied herself. 

It's no use thinking about that anymore, she told herself. It's gone and there's nothing you can do about it. It's time to move on.

Aru slipped her boots on and tied her hair, “So, what's the weather like today?” she joked.

     Aiden smiled and held out her jacket, “Grey and ashy, just like the day before today. And the day before that.”

He looked up at the sky, his hand over his forehead to protect him from the nonexistent sun. “Although, I think there might be rain today.” 

Aru smiled, “So that's what the coat was for, huh?”

He looked back at her. “Yep.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aru thought watching Kung Fu Panda for the 5th time today was a wonderful idea. However, Aiden thought otherwise.

“I’m serious Aru, if we watch Kung Fu Panda one more time, I think I might smother myself with my pillow,” Aiden said, holding the remote away from her.

Darn their height difference. 

“Ohh cmoooon, it's a classic!” Aru whined, as she tried to reach the remote.

Aiden continued to hold the remote out of her reach.

“A classic that has been watched way too many times to be interesting.” 

Aru sighed dramatically and fell on the couch. “Fine, I can relinquish my control this time, and this time only.” 

Aiden hummed, electing to sit back on the couch and scroll through the Internet. Probably looking through memes.

 “Say, don’t you think it's weird that we still have WiFi?” Aru said

Aiden looked back at her, deep in thought, “I’d bet there are other people around here who work on maintaining it.”

Aru snorted and turned around to face the ceiling. ”Other people, huh? What I wouldn't give to meet another person in this wasteland.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~

“. . . Aiden? “

He sighed, looking back at the kitchen. “Let me guess, you burnt the pancakes again”

Aru looked away “. . . Yes?”

He ruffled a hand through his hair and smiled. Typical 

“I’ll come in a minute!” he called out. “Just try not to burn the kitchen again while I’m away.”

Aiden heard Aru’s offended gasp. “How dare, I could never do something like that!”

He grinned, “The fire extinguisher next to the kitchen says otherwise.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

She found Aiden at the porch of their house, looking wistfully into the distance. 

“Hey, hey, hey!” Aru said laughing as she sat down next to him, trying to lighten up the mood “Y’know, you kinda look like one of those manga charactera, with your looking-into-the distance habit.”

Aiden looked back at her. “Hey.”

Aru looked up at the sky “Hey, what's up?” 

He sighed, “Remember when the world wasn’t ash and smoke?”

Aiden was a photographer. If anyone missed the world before, he certainly did. After all, what's there to take pictures of when everything is the same? Day after day. An endless loop.

Aru fell silent. “Sometimes.”

They sat in silence for a while. 

~~~~~~~~~~

The living room was filled with the sound of the news.

“So there are other people out there, huh?” Aru said looking at her phone as the news anchor was talking animatedly.

“We will stand united!” she said grinning as if the world was right again. “Although we are not even half of what we used to have, we can get through this together!”

Aiden perched his head on Aru’s shoulder, smiling. “There are”

Aru moved to the table in the center of the room. Putting down her phone, she began to rifle through the CD cabinet.

“I think this deserves a little bit of music, don't ya think?” Aru said upon noticing Aiden’s confusion.

Aiden laughed. “Why not?” he said, holding out his hand.

~

“Hey, do you think we should eat some cake?” Aru said while they were dancing. 

Aiden looked at her with amusement. “Is this an excuse to eat cake?”

Aru grinned, “What else did you expect?”

~~~~~~~~~

Aru could hear the sirens of the ambulance all around her.

She looked down at her phone, at the news.

“We can get through this,” said the peppy news lady, looking not so peppy anymore. “Although this black plague is diminishing our population once more, we will get through this.”

She looked like she was trying to comfort herself.

Aru ruffled a hand through her hair. “We shouldn’t have moved so close to each other. We let the virus spread.”

Aiden sighed and looked out of the window, “You do know we would have moved here anyway, right? Plague or not.”

Aru moved towards the window, “Yeah”

They stayed silent for a while, the sirens and shouts of the people outside filling it in.

“Well,” Aiden said, slipping his boots on. “We’re going to help, aren't we?”

Aru smiled sadly, pulling her coat on. “Of course.”

Aiden paused at the doorway, turning back to her, “Together till death?”

Snippets of gore-filled memories clawed at the corners of her vision as V took in gulping breaths and clenched her jaw as another wave of phantom pain washed over her.

The memory started again like a video stuck in a loop. She saw flashes of her—of his—blood soaked arm. Blood mixed with mud and the putrid foul smell of burning flesh filled her nostrils. The memory morphed into something else, bright lights and the muffled sound of doctors and their technobabble. She heard—and felt—the saws and drills used to cut away the dead flesh from her—from his—arm as they prepared to install the cybernetic.

V had plenty of experience of being awake during cyberware installation. General anaesthetic was a luxury only the rich could afford. Local anaesthetic was the most common but even then, it wasn’t always used.

V felt the knife as it sliced through her—his—fuck—his—flesh. She felt as the artificial nerves fused with the organic ones. It was excruciating. Her heart pounded against the confines of her chest and the feeling of static filled her vision. She could feel her throat closing up as the pain slowly started to replace itself with a suffocating panic.

“Breathe V. Breathe.” The air beside her cracked with energy as Johnny materialised into existence. His engram form appeared to be glitching–each wave of pain that washed through her causing his form to shift and stutter.

“I–I can’t. ‘S too much…” She gritted out, jaw clenched and nails dug into the firm flesh of her shoulder.

“Need you to okay? Hearts beatin’ too fast and your heads a fuckin riot…”

V looked down at her shaking arm. She pushed back the bloodsoaked images that swam around her mind, “Can feel it…”

“It’s not real, not to you.” Johnny spoke and let his eyes settle on her. V glanced at him and noted the mix of fear and grief written on his face, “Breathe with me…”

She knew full well that he couldn’t breathe—not technically. But that didn’t stop her from timing breaths with his artificial ones. The virulent pain in her shoulder still remained but the hazy effect that crept across her vision began to subside with each shaky breath she took.

“Not a good sign, me feelin’ that….” V murmured, and let her arm fall limp at her side. The pain was still there but somewhat dulled–like a persistent ache under her skin rather than a hellish burning sensation.

Johnny rolled his left shoulder back and rubbed the area where flesh became steel. V swore she could feel that same sensation on her own arm. A gentle and static filled touch that felt heaven sent in comparison to the pain that sparked through her arm.

“It was gonna happen eventually, just didn’t think it’d be that bad…” He paced around her dimly lit apartment as he spoke, a look of pain plastered across his features, “Thought it would just be a bad memory for you, didn’t think you’d be able to feel it.” She heard the tightness in his voice—a sadness and fear behind his words.

“Didn’t want you to see that…” He looked at her, aviators off and eyes painfully full of vulnerability, “Definitely didn’t want you to feel it.”

V rolled her shoulder back and flexed her hand. The pain had slowly subsided and now it had settled into the same dull ache she woke up to every day. In her line of work there was no such thing as a pain free existence. She studied her arm for a moment and traced the still healing scars of her cyberware with her eyes.

“Did this feel like that to you?” V asked and twisted her arm so he could see the scarring.

The rockerboy let his eyes settle on her, “Not as painful. Felt strange though…” He flexed his metal hand and idly shifted his hand as if he was studying the gears and servos that made his arm move.

“Strange?”

“Phantom pains. Get it ‘cause of your eyes as well. Like it's there just…”

“Separate?” She spoke quietly, just loud enough for him to hear.