José rammed his knee into Ketsu's right leg. Fox-Face cried out. A dark smile graced José's lips. “Payback’s a bitch.”
Someone gripped him from behind and threw him to the floor. The vampire, no doubt, come to protect his boss. Didn't matter. Asher ran. José chalked one point up for himself, although he had no idea how to proceed from here.
“The dragon,” Ketsu hissed. “Bring him back.”
The hell you will.
“I'm taking care of him first,” Ruigi said. Hah. Didn't want to leave his boss alone with the dangerous fire elf, did he?
José stood up and prepared himself, letting the fire on his skin go out to reserve energy. By the sound of his breathing, he located Ruigi just three, maybe four feet in front of himself. José took a step back.
The vampire didn't have to touch to attack, but this time, he did. Ruigi came flying at him and shoved him back against the cold stone wall. Gathering his strength, José moved to push him off. But he didn’t think to protect his neck.
Once he felt the vampire’s teeth on his skin, he knew he was done for.
Ruigi drank very little of his blood before he tossed him aside like a wormy apple. “You don’t taste good,” he said, kneeling down next to him.
José couldn’t move, even as he heard the sound of metal being unsheathed. Natural sedative. Unfortunately, the knowledge of what was happening to him didn’t help him evade it. His heartbeat drummed in his ears louder than the noise the collapsing building made. Then, for a second, the whole scene seemed muted. A stabbing pain shot through him, spread from his chest and took over his entire body until there was no other sensation left.
“Sorry. We all have people to protect.”
José gasped as the ability to breathe returned to him, although breathing only aggravated the wound further. Ruigi removed the blade from his body in one swift movement, tearing a cry from José that he didn’t recognize as his own until Ruigi withdrew and he felt his own blood seep into his shirt.
It’s over.
It hit him just like that. There was no getting out of it this time. Asher would be so pissed at him.
Apparently, Ruigi wrote him off, too, because he got up again and walked back to the fox. The fox who was still set on getting Asher. José had to keep him here somehow, if only for a little while longer. It was the last thing he could do for Asher after ignoring his wishes. Not that he regretted it. Honestly he'd never had a choice. When he thought of that little idiot and all they’d been through, he couldn't help but want to protect him. It was just who he was. Too fucking nice, as Asher put it. But when he remembered the way Asher had felt in his arms the one time he’d let him hold him, José knew he was doing the right thing.
Which included not letting the bloodsucker and Fox-Face walk away. He would not let them escape this. Because of those bastards he couldn't go back to his family, hug his sister, or his mom, or listen to his little brother rave about Pokémon.
He'd never get to give Asher that kiss he'd demanded and tell him that it was okay, ask him to be his boyfriend and show him what a real relationship could be like.
The vampire and the fox had taken that from him, and if he could just move, he would never let them kill another person again.
They were talking to each other; nobody was paying attention to the dying elf. Gathering all the strength that hadn't bled out of his body yet, José raised his hand. Taking one last breath, he channeled all the magic he had left, all that Asher had given him, into one attack, and hurled it where he knew it would hurt both of them.
He targeted Ketsu.
Chapter 29 - Breaking Down
Even as Ketsu saw the blast, he couldn’t evade it. The fire spread out into a hundred little daggers of flame, and his injured leg slowed him down. He was going to be hit. Until Ruigi jumped in front of him.
The heat of the attack engulfed Ketsu as they burned the body before him.
Ruigi didn’t cry out once. He fell to the floor and rolled over the ground until the small flames went out. Eventually he lay on his back, eyes closed and unmoving, like the elf in the corner who should be dead by now.
All clothes had been burned off Ruigi’s chest; only scraps of it stuck to dead skin. His face was bright red but didn’t look as badly burned as the rest of him. That had to hurt, yet Ruigi had taken the pain willingly—for him.
Wondering whether he had passed out, Ketsu knelt beside him. If someone had asked him whether he thought Ruigi would die for him, he would have said yes, he expected all his soldiers to protect him. But his soldiers had abandoned him and there was no higher cause to die for now. Seeing his childhood friend defeated before him, there was no denying it. All his struggles had come to this: losing everything and achieving nothing.
“Why did you do it?”
Why the backstabbing? Why the sacrifice?
Ketsu fisted his hand in Ruigi's black hair. Some of that had been burned, too.
Ruigi looked at him, dark eyes hanging on to his. What was he seeing, though? Something that made him cling to consciousness.
“Get out,” Ruigi said.
Ketsu shook his head. There was nothing out there for him; Ruigi had made sure of that. Everything that had meant anything to him was going down with this fortress.
“Why did you do it?” he asked again. Looking at Ruigi, watching his chest rise and fall like every breath was an act of labor, whisked him back to the time he'd watched his girlfriend die. He was as helpless now as he was then.
“Because I love you. I always have.”
“I know.” It had been clear in Ruigi’s mind. Ketsu had guessed for a while that Ruigi had a bit of an infatuation with him, but he hadn’t anticipated how bad it was. The only reason he’d missed it was because his mind had been occupied with other things. He'd been so possessed by the idea of changing the world that now his army was gone, he was filled with a sense of emptiness.
“You can't always save the people you love."
“No one could have saved Laika. But,” Ruigi stopped speaking for a second to clench his eyes shut, “I saw what that did to you. I knew I would do anything to protect the person I love.”
Ketsu opened his mouth to respond, to tell him what a fool he was, but the words wouldn't come. Because he understood. Love made people do crazy things.
“Just get out.” Ruigi’s voice was getting softer. He was close to slipping.
“Oh no,” Ketsu said, “you're not getting out of this so easily.” Ruigi wasn't reacting, but Ketsu had made up his mind. He leaned over Ruigi, ran his thumb over his lips to open his mouth and kissed him.
***
Ruigi wasn’t too sure what was happening when he felt Ketsu’s lips on his, keeping him awake. Or maybe he was already asleep. He’d had dreams that went something like this. Dreams normally didn’t hurt though.
The pain receded, slowly, replaced by the sensation of Ketsu's tongue against his and the pleasure spreading from his mouth to every cell of his body. Ketsu needed to get out, not kiss him, but Ruigi couldn’t help but hang on to this. He’d lost count of all the years he’d waited for some sign of affection from his friend.
This wasn’t just a kiss goodbye, though. He wasn’t imagining his wounds getting better. Ketsu was transferring life energy to him. Shit. Ruigi pushed him off.
“Are you out of your mind?” That could have killed him! If Ruigi hadn’t realized what he was doing…
“You're not dying like this,” Ketsu muttered, lying on the floor next to him, his face pale, but still managing a glare. “I'll kill you myself.”
A silver glow enveloped Ketsu’s body as he changed into his fox-form, all out of energy to sustain his more human form.
Ruigi sat and checked himself quickly. He wasn't completely healed, but he would survive. Ketsu had saved him. For the first time in his life, he dared to reach out and pet the fox by his side. He ignored the resulting growl.
***
Asher couldn’t stop his feet. Didn’t know whet
her he was even going in the right direction, but there was no stopping. The words of the order still echoed in his ears as he cursed being so fucking useless at a time like this.
José had better meet him outside, he’d better!
A part of the ceiling came down and Asher jumped to the right to avoid it. Then he continued his sprint. He felt that his partner was already out of magic, but otherwise silence reigned over their link. Before, rage had flared up shortly. Where that had gone, Asher didn’t know. Wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
Windows lit up the path in front of him. He’d reached the ground floor. The windows were barred, but an exit had to be close. Seeing the world outside felt weird. People stood staring at the fortress. Curious onlookers and soldiers who had fled the building.
Nobody paid attention to Asher when he made it through the front gate and looked back at the collapsing building. Finally, his feet stopped running, but they wouldn’t let him take one step back toward the fortress.
“Fuck!”
His outcry drew some looks from the other people. Fuck them. Who cared about them when José was still somewhere inside that damn building?
Another curse escaped Asher as the second tower came down.
People made “Oooh” and “Aaaah” sounds beside him. Fucktards. Some sobbed as the fortress crumbled, and those grated on Asher’s nerves even more.
“They say the general hasn’t come out,” someone whispered. Someone broke down crying.
“Let’s hope he dies in there,” an old feline woman said, shaking a stick at the fortress. “For all of our sons!”
“Go to hell, bitch.” Asher’s muttering went ignored. They were right about the fox, only the fortress couldn’t fall yet. But it did. Right in front of his eyes. Never one to believe in miracles, Asher dropped to his knees as the shred of hope he’d held on to was torn to pieces. A sudden seizure wrecked his body and brought him to the floor. It only lasted for a moment, but when he opened his eyes again, something was missing. Something important. The link was gone.
Asher closed his eyes again and kept lying where he was, refusing to look at the mess he was in. This couldn't be happening.
Someone approached him from the side. “Are you—”
“Leave me the fuck alone!” Snapping his eyes open, he looked for a stone. Once he found one, he tossed it at the fucker as if hurting him would take away his own pain. He didn't hit.
The scream pierced his ears before he knew it was his own, and even then he couldn't stop himself. It was like watching himself in a movie with no control of his actions, and strangely enough, he didn't want it back. His body hadn't listened to him before, why should it now?
Asher picked more stones from the ground and threw them into the crowd of onlookers. Then, when he ran out of stones, he threw his lighters.
“Take them! Take all I fucking have! Why don’t you?”
It didn't feel good, felt fucking awful, but not as bad as stopping would. When his rage dissipated, there’d be nothing left.
Someone came at him out of the crowd of unknown faces, someone bigger and bulkier than him. The muscle-man wrestled him to the ground. Asher fought to get back up, but he couldn’t land a single punch on that ugly face.
The crowd caged them in, yelling words Asher didn’t understand. His legs were being pinned down. Someone took a hold of his hands.
“Calm down,” Ugly Face above him said. As if that were even possible.
Asher couldn’t move. Just like that time in the fortress, before he’d run. Just like—
He opened his mouth to tell them to fuck off, to let him go, because he needed to move, needed to know he was in control of his hands and feet, but he couldn’t get a word past the lump in his throat. He was breathing, rapidly, his pulse was racing, and still he didn’t get any air in.
“Kid?” A large hand settled over his mouth and nose. “You’re hyperventilating.”
He was what? Somewhere he knew the words should have meaning, that he had to calm down, but even as he was trying to figure out how to do that, the world went mercifully black.
***
When he woke up, his location had changed. People were buzzing around him, but no one was concerned with him. The sounds were made by busy healers and helpers rushing around between beds upon beds of sick and injured people. Completely different from the last time Asher had woken up in a sort of hospital. And when he turned his head… Yeah, that wasn’t José on the bed next to his. Just some fugly stranger.
Behind the bed, he spotted a window, and through that, the ruins of the fortress. Some desperate idiots were digging through the rubble, hoping for survivors, maybe.
Breathe in. Breathe out. Slowly. You don’t want to fucking faint again.
He threw his covers back and sat up, needing to move. As he swung his legs out of the bed, an intense pain shot through his left side. His mouth opened in a silent scream. Seemed he was out of painkillers. Cursing, he tried to take a step anyway, and fell face-first to the ground. Useless, he remembered, staring at the wooden floor, that's what he was.
A young woman appeared at his side. “Do you need help?” She grabbed him by the arm.
“Don’t touch me!” He slapped the woman’s hand away as if she was holding a gun in it. She looked taken aback at his outburst, maybe even a little scared.
“Shit,” Asher muttered. A crowd of people gathered around him. “Leave me alone!” He didn't want any of those grabby hands. He would get back up by himself. His left leg wouldn't support him, and neither would his left arm, but he could pull himself up into the bed somehow if he tried hard enough.
He held on to the bed frame with his right hand, when someone stood over him and tried to lift him up. Ignoring any and all pain, Asher managed to turn himself around on his back and kick the fucker. The guy let out a howl. Asher grinned. At least until someone rammed a needle into his arm that took him out.
***
He ran. Stones flew at him from all sides. People screamed, shouted at him. He couldn’t make out all the words, but some of them seemed to want him dead.
Some familiar faces stood to the side of the road, staring at him as he went by. Their eyes shone with accusations, though their mouths stayed closed. Asher’s gaze lingered on the form of his father, picking up a stone. But then a fox jumped at Asher out of nowhere and tackled him to the ground. It flashed its teeth at him and growled.
The fox vanished as quickly as it had come and Asher found himself at home, sitting on the couch in the living room. His mom was pacing up and down in front of him.
“You killed him.” She whirled around to face him. “How do you plan to make up for it?”
Asher rested his head in his hands and closed his eyes as if he could hide from the question. “I didn’t. I—”
“Then what’s that?”
When he opened his eyes again, the living room had been replaced with the fortress’s prison cell. He was kneeling on the ground, José lying in front of him. Motionless. Dead. Blood seeped out of the dead body and pooled over the floor until Asher’s hands were tainted red. Asher raised them to his face and stared at the blood dripping off them.
He woke with a scream to a dark room. He would have sat upright if something hadn’t prevented him from moving.
What the hell?
He couldn’t see much, but when he tried to move his arm again, it wouldn’t go very far. He’d been strapped to the bed. Forcing himself to calm down, he let his head fall back on the pillow.
Someone was approaching him, carrying a small light that illuminated him just enough to let Asher see he was green all over. If that was a fashion choice, it was a very bad one.
“Good morning,” Greeny said. “I’m Rad. How are you feeling?”
Asher simply looked at him. He was tied to a hospital bed because he was experiencing continuous mental breakdowns. How was he supposed to be feeling?
“I know you can speak.”
“Maybe I don’t want to,” Ashe
r caught himself saying before he could stop himself.
Greeny only nodded. “Would you like to drink something?”
“Untie me. I’m not into bondage.”
“I’m afraid I’m under orders not to.”
“I’m not going to attack anyone.” At least Asher hoped he wouldn’t. He only wanted… what did he want? Did it even matter whether he was tied up or not? If he was free, where would he go?
“I don’t think you’re going to attack me,” Greeny said, as though that was any consolation. “But I don’t think that’s your only problem.”
Asher raised an eyebrow at him. This situation could get worse?
“They say you’ve burned down a village, dragon.” From the looks Greeny gave Asher, it seemed like that was already a fact. And why shouldn’t it be? The only one who would have doubted it was dead.
Don’t go there.
“A lot of people did horrible things in the war,” Greeny said as if to justify Asher’s supposed actions. “If your side had won, you would be regarded as a hero. But the way things are now… they found this village within hours after the magic was gone. It’s crawling with lizard folk out there. They’re deporting all the people of mixed races for evaluation they say.” Greeny shook his head. “But you and I know that’s not really what they’re going to do.”
“I don’t care.” The fate of the villagers was the least of Asher’s concerns.
“They’re going to question you, I think.”
“They gonna kill me if they don’t like my answers?”
“That is a possibility.”
Asher laughed. Not out of amusement, not out of happiness. It was mad little laughter that scared him a little. Fat lot of good José’s noble sacrifice had done him if he was just switching hands from one enemy to another. He’d let himself get caught too easily. And even now he couldn’t keep it together, he just kept going until he didn’t know whether he was laughing or sobbing or somewhere in between.
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