Work Text:
They were being closed in on…they were trapped.
“I don’t think it’s possible, Vanitas.” Noé said worriedly, grabbing Vanitas’ wrist. The blue-eyed man rolled his eyes, but he did not pull away. “It’s a swarm of curse bearers, Noé. I can’t imagine it would be a pleasant death, we don't have options here.” Vanitas’ eyes were locked on Noé’s, and the vampire could make out the fear simmering under their blue surface.
Suddenly, Luna’s mark was all too visible under the collar of Vanitas’ clothes. In the time between the ball and now, the mark has spread from the human's forearm and all the way up his arm and up to his chest and neck.
Noé shook his head. “I'm not ready for that, Vanitas, not yet.” He knew what would happen if he let Vanitas go, he had known this day would come for almost a year now. He didn’t want it to happen.
“Well, I am, so let's do this.” Vanitas’ smile found its way back.
That's a lie. He’s scared.
“We can find a different way.” Noé tried, he needed to get through to him, to prevent this from happening. Vanitas grabbed the hand latched to his wrist. “Noé, please, it’s almost over. We can put an end to curses, malnomens, everything. Let me do this.” And Noé has never heard that much honestly and almost pure desperation in the humans voice. And it hurts.
“I will save you vampires!”
Noé hears the words as he lets go.
“Whether you want it or not,”
Hears them as he watches Vanitas open the doors.
“I will save you!”
Hears them… as pages flutter.
… That's right. Noé wouldn’t be able to stop him… would he?
Noé is frozen in his place, helpless to watch blue light and stars light up the sky. But he wants to move, he wants to run over and stop it all. There's some part of him that doesn’t care if people keep losing their true names, he won’t care as long as Vanitas is alive.
Or is the panic just because he is dreading having to kill someone? He’s never killed anyone..
He should move. He's just watching, he’s seeing Vanitas get injured as he’s trying to help these vampires. They should be grateful, few people would try to help them. No, they don’t know any better in this state of mind.
_______
Eventually it ends, the curse bearers drop to the ground. But the calm, of course, does not last. The ground shakes, as if an earthquake had come. And exactly what Noé feared began, the sight looked familiar but yet so much worse.
Odd colored… goop seeped out of the book of Vanitas, making the stone floor look like a gaping pit. The liquid stretched out like arms, seeking to take hold of Vanitas and drag him down into that pit.
And it did, it latched onto the human and seemingly turned solid, ensuring its hold. And if Noé’s heart couldn’t sink any further, it found a way when he saw…heard what happened next.
The screaming.
Vanitas screaming.
It’s a sound Noé never wanted to hear, never should have heard.
If he got the book away from Vanitas, that would put a stop to it…. Right? In the amusement park, Mikhail never let go of the book and if what happened back then was anything like this, then.… there’s no time to think, he needs to act.
“Vanitas!” Noé shouted, breaking himself out of his stupor and running toward the human. Up close, the ‘goop’ was more like shadows- wisps- and they lashed out at Noé as he got closer. Vanitas, at this point, has fallen to his knees, clutching his head as he screamed.
Noé finally reached Vanitas, sliding to his knees himself. He fumbled for the chain that attached the book to Vanitas’ belt, once he got a hold on it, he broke it with ease- surprising himself.
He flung the book away, as far as he possibly could, not caring if it would be found again or not.
Some of the shadows dispersed, but not all of them. And Vanitas’ screaming died down to loud sobbing and panting. “Vanitas? Can you hear me?” Noé asked, placing a hand on the human's back.
“..Noé.” Vanitas said gruffly, and Noé already knew what he was trying to say. Noé tugged at Vanitas’ collar, just enough to see that Luna’s mark had spread to the rest of the once clear skin. “Vanitas…” Noé whispered, his hands trembling.
This was happening… it was going to happen…
“My one damn wish, Noé…” Vanitas was obviously trying to sound angry, but he fell short of it. The human turned his head to look at Noé. Blood was leaking from his eyes like tears and there were a few cuts that seemed to have opened by themselves. Vanitas grabbed Noé’s wrist, just like Noé had earlier.
“If I am to die… I only have one wish” … “To die by the hands… of Noé.”
Noé felt Vanitas place something in his hand, when he looked down he saw one of Vanitas’s knives. “No..” He tried giving the knife back, but Vanitas pushed back with a surprising strength.
“Noé, I won’t die… Noé… even if I am no longer here.” Vanitas smiled, it was a small, weak smile, but it still shone like all the other smiles Noé had seen on his face.
Noé shook his head. “Yes you will, what are you saying?” He’d be dead, gone forever. Vanitas chuckled, causing blood to trickle down his chin. “I won’t die.. Because I’ll be in here.” He reached up and put his hand on Noé’s chest.. Right above his heart. “Won’t I?” Vanitas asked, earnest eyes holding steady on Noé’s face, like he was afraid his assumption was wrong.
For a moment, Noé couldn’t even form the words to answer, he just stared back into those oh so blue eyes. “Of course..” He muttered, in turn, placing his hand on top of Vanitas’. “Forever.”
Vanitas smiled again, it was brighter this time, but the light in his eyes was slowly dulling. “Alright, good…now,” He rested his head on Noé’s chest, alongside their hands. “Make it quick, please.”
Noé still felt the weight of the knife in his hand. He knew this feeling, the same feeling he had when…when Louis was asking Noé to kill him… It was happening again, and Noé could’t stop either of them from happening.
“Then you’ll finally be free a̶l̶o̶n̶e̶”
“I don't want to be free.” Noé whispered, clutching the human to his chest. “Please, Vanitas… don’t set me free.” He begged.
Vanitas huffed, bringing Noé’s hand- the hand with the knife- to his neck, now covered in the icy blue curse mark. “You’re not alone Noé, you’ll forget about me soon enough.” His hand slipped from Noé’s wrist to the crook of his elbow. “C’mon, Noé… this really hurts. Kill me while I’m still human.”
“This really hurts.”
___________
He remembers, crouching down in the grass with Louis and Domi, looking at an injured rabbit. Its back leg was mauled and useless, and it squirmed in pain.
“We can save it, right?” Noé asked Louis, swaying as the position made his feet numb. Domi nodded, “Can’t we? We can take it inside and fix it.” She had sounded hopeful.
After a beat of silence, Louis had sighed and pointed to the rabbit's leg. “This really hurts. Noé, Domi, when something is suffering like this, you put it out of its misery.” He stated.
“What do you me-” But before Domi could even finish speaking, Louis picked up his wood carver and drove it through the rabbits head.
____________
“Please.. Noé.” Vanitas’ voice brought him back from the memory. “I’m sorry it's you, but…” The hands clutching Noé’s coat trembled. “Any longer and I’ll be something far from myself. I don’t want that to happen, Noé, and frankly, neither will you.”
“Okay…” Noé muttered.
“...Okay.” Vanitas sighed.
And all the times Noé wanted to get some of Vanitas’ blood, he never wanted it to be in this way, not freely running down his arm and staining his coat red. Never like this, it no longer had its sweet alluring scent, now it smelt rancid, something that should have stayed in the body.
“Vanitas?” He wasn’t sure why he was trying. “Can I have your hand?” He knew there would be no answer, not in words, the warm blood was answer enough. Noé reached down and scooped Vanitas’ lifeless hand into his.
The one day he reached for his hand… his hand that could not clutch it…