Bittersweet Revenge - Chapter 14: Fall of the Flowers
Title: Bittersweet Revenge
Main Characters: Megumi Oishi, Hyde, Gackt
Pairings: HydexMegumi, HydexGackt
Rating: R (for violence and maybe other things)
Warnings: Character Death, Vampires, Violence, Angst
Disclaimer: I own only the plot which is a product of my dark demented mind. The characters are the property of themselves and the vampire lore goes back years.
Summary: His wife’s cold-blooded murder leads Hyde down the road of revenge with Gackt as his less than silent accomplice. But when it’s all over, will he finally be able to heal? And what state will Gackt be in?
Hyde
They stood in silence, staring across the street at the group of vampires facing them. Hyde felt his eyes narrow as he spotted the man who had shot his wife among them. “You.” He said softly, hate filling his stomach. The man grinned and twiddled his fingers in greeting.
“This was my reward for getting rid of your pretty little wife.” The man called across the street. Hyde growled deep in this throat as he glared across the street. Next to him, he heard Jun and Ren prepare for a fight as Gackt stood calmly with his sword at his side as if he wasn’t worried about a thing. Aimi laughed softly again before motioning with her hands.
“Well? Go get them children.” On her command, the four vampires tensed and lunged, each going for a different target. Next to him, Hyde heard two guns open fire immediately, peppering two of the four with bullet holes, before Ren pulled an evil looking knife out of his pocket tossed his gun to Jun who caught it without missing a beat and ran for one of the bullet ridden bodies while Jun stood back, covering him with his guns. Hyde only saw the other newborn vampire reach Gackt before he had his own fight to deal with as Megumi’s killer reached him.
Hyde tried to clear his mind as Gackt had been teaching him, to feel the attacks instead of think as he twisted and turned, evading the other vampire’s punches. He wasn’t as fast as Gackt but he was just a touch faster than Ren in a battle where speed meant life or death. But just like Hyde, this vampire didn’t have full control of his powers either. They were evenly matched as they traded kicks and blows. He knew somewhere nearby, Jun was firing his guns again and Ren was yelling something. He heard Gackt’s voice respond and Aimi laugh high and cold before he focused all of his attention back on the vampire in front of him.
He lashed out, feeling his foot connect with flesh as the other vampire stumbled back before grabbing onto Hyde’s foot with supernatural strength and throwing him backwards. Hyde skipped away, catching his balanced before lunging forward and hitting for his chest. One punch landed and Hyde felt bone break under his fist as the other fell back in surprise. He hadn’t expected Hyde to be so fast.
“Hyde!” At the sound of his name, he turned to Jun who threw him a blade similar to Ren’s. He caught it in surprise before looking back up at the other man. “His heart! To kill him you have to stop his heart or take off his head!”
“I could use a little help over here!” Ren’s voice roared and Jun turned back quickly, opening fire on the vampire who was trying to attack his partner from behind as he struggled with the other. Hyde spotted the body of the one who had attacked Gackt lying in the street and found its head a few feet away, eyes wide open as if he were surprised by his sudden death. Gackt himself was running into the building to confront Aimi who no longer stood on the roof. Hyde turned back to his foe, feeling his heart flutter in fear. Here was the time to see if he could kill.
The other vampire had recovered from the broken chest bones and was now eyeing Hyde’s knife with respect, though he was bolder than he should have been. He obviously knew Hyde didn’t really know how to use the weapon. He grinned maliciously and circled waiting for his opening.
“It was fun you know? Watching her die.” Hyde’s hands started shaking again as he realized what his opponent was talking about.
“Don’t you dare talk about my wife!” He threw back. “She deserved better than that. She had nothing to do with any of this and neither does my son.”
“Do you think I care? I was offered a prize for her death and I took it.” He smiled grimly. “And I enjoyed every second of it.” Hyde released an enraged sound as he lunged forward, forgetting about the knife in his hand and punching blindly, feeling some strikes make contact and some be blocked. The vampire stumbled back in surprise at the fury of Hyde’s attack before gaining his footing and holding in the center of the street. He began blocking more and more and for an instant they were at a standstill together in the center of the street, Hyde’s fists locked in the unknown vampire’s grip.
And then he was flying again, like he had when fighting Gackt. His back made contact with hard brick and an instant later, the other vampire was on him, pinning him against the wall.
“You think you can beat me?” The vampire hissed at him. “I took her life and now I’ll send you to join her.” Hyde struggled against the grip holding him against the wall and watched as if in slow motion as the other vampire’s teeth brushed his neck. And then he felt several impacts as the body against his was hit hard from behind. He felt his feet touch the ground again as his opponent fell back, stunned. Hyde looked up to see Jun with his gun aimed in their direction.
“The heart Hyde, use your knife damnit!” Time froze around him as he stared at the bodyguard for a split second. He looked down at the man at his feet breathing shallowly. In a moment the bullet wounds would heal and he’d get back up and attack again. Hyde knew that but he didn’t know if he could take the life from him. And then he remembered Megumi. Megumi smiling and laughing at him, Megumi holding their son the day he was born, Megumi’s fears about being a bad mother, Megumi on their first date, Megumi nervous and beautiful as she kissed him gently goodnight. He felt his heart turn to ice and he dropped to his knees next to her killer, plunging the knife hard into his chest before he could stop himself to think about it.
The vampire under him screamed in pain as blood began gushing from the wound. He reached around trying to pull the knife from his chest but Hyde held it there tightly. He forced himself to watch the last traces of life leave the vampire’s body as his heart continued trying to beat around the cold metal that had pierced it for a few moments more before finally going still and silent. Hyde released a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding, staring down at the body of the man who had murdered his first love, kneeling in the street covered in his blood.
“Rest now Megumi.” He said silently as a single tear leaked out of his eye. Part of him was screaming that he had just killed someone but he forced himself to ignore it as he stood, leaving the knife lodged in the other’s chest. He had killed a killer. Surely it was different than taking the life of an innocent for immortality. A scream of pain rang out across the night, drawing Hyde’s attention upward.
Jun’s guns lay on the ground at his feet, seemingly out of bullets as he fought one of the remaining vampires. It hadn’t been him who yelled. Hyde looked past them to the two struggling bodies in the street. Ren was bleeding heavily from a long gash down his chest as he dodged the attacks of the vampire in front of him. Hyde could see him visibly loosing strength with each move. Swiftly, without thinking, Hyde bent and retrieved the knife from the corpse at his feet and started running towards them. He knew he wasn’t going to make it in time.
“I always thought he was the better of us two…”
Feet from him, Ren went down with the other vampire on him, teeth buried in his throat. Hyde yelled in pure rage, causing the newborn to look up from his meal just as Hyde tackled him roughly, forcing him backwards out of the street away from Ren and into the wall smashing through the brick and as they landed. Hyde shoved the knife into the body under him blindly, aiming for his heart. He missed and pulled it out with a sick squelching noise before stabbing again as the vampire clawed at him, trying to get rid of his weight. The second try hit it’s mark and the vampire screamed just like the first as his heart was pierced. Hyde felt blood splatter him again as the newborn under him screamed and bleed before dying just as the first had.
He held himself off of the body with shaking arms as he took in deep gasping breaths, eyes wide in shock at what he had just done. Two lives in one night he had taken. No matter if they were going to kill him if he didn’t kill them, a life was a life and he was shocked at how easy it had been to end them. How had Gackt lived with this for four thousand years?
He finally pushed himself all the way to his feet and ran out back onto the street wishing he had food in his stomach to vomit up. Instead he collapsed onto his knees and closed his eyes, willing himself to calm down. He forced himself to breath, not to think about the strange blood on his clothes or the dead bodies that littered the street. This wasn’t finished. He could break down and wrack himself with guilt later, he had to check on Ren first and then he had to find Gackt. There was one more life he needed to take tonight and it was the most important one.
“Hyde!” Jun’s voice rang out against the night, filled with pain. He forced himself to look up and meet the other man’s eyes. He was kneeling next to his fallen partner, blood oozing from two heavy cuts on his arm and chest as he held his jacket against the slash down Ren’s chest. His opponent was lying a few feet away with not one but two knife hilts protruding form his chest. Jun jerked his head in summons when Hyde looked up at him, clearly in pain.
Hyde’s body felt detached from his mind as he made himself stand and walk over to them. He dropped to the ground next to Ren, noticing the shallow breaths the other man was trying to drag through his lungs. Jun grabbed Hyde’s hands and positioned them over the cloth in order to keep it in place. The then started ripping pieces off of his shirt to try and stop the bleeding on his throat. The wound on his chest was worse than Hyde had originally thought. It extended from his collarbone to the center of his abdomen and it was deep and bleeding profusely. The jacket covering it was already soaked through with dark blood and more was leaking out around the edges.
“Ren’s a pretty tough guy... he can take a lot of abuse and continue on…”
“I’m sorry Ren-san.” Hyde said as his partner worked to save him. “I wasn’t fast enough I’m sorry.” Ren’s eyes opened a crack at Hyde’s voice and he felt the other man’s chest rumble as he laughed weakly.
“Don’t… beat yourself up Shorty.” Ren said weakly. “You got him in the end. Don’t worry.”
“Don’t talk.” Jun snapped at him tightly pressing a pad of cloth from his shirt over the other man’s neck wounds. He was clearly intent on saving his partner if it was the last thing he did.
“Not going to… make it this time Jun.” He said anyway, ignoring the blood what was still trickling down his neck. “Bastards… finally got me.” Jun growled and shook his head, clearly refusing to believe him. Hyde swallowed the lump in his throat and stared down at the man who had worked so hard to keep him safe the past months.
“I can change you!” Hyde said suddenly. Even as Ren stared shaking his head Hyde kept talking. “I can make you like us. You can live!”
“Never wanted… never wanted that. Eternal life and all that.” He said with a grin. He coughed weakly and a small dribble of blood made it’s way down from the corner of his mouth. “Bandage your own wounds Jun. No sense in you dying from blood loss too.” His partner shook his head fiercly again. Hyde thought he saw tears on the man’s face. He felt himself breaking at the thought of loosing the man but he couldn’t cry. Not yet. He watched from the detached place in his mind as Jun continued working to cut strips for bandaging and Ren slowly slipped away.
“Hyde.” He whispered a moment later. Hyde leaned closer to listen. Ren’s breathing was getting shallower as he continued trying to draw air through the blood and pain. “Take my other knife. Go help Gackt.” Hyde looked down at the knife hilt sticking out of the other man’s jacket and shook his head.
“I’m going to leave you out here.” Hyde said. Ren’s eyes slid closed and he coughed again. The flow of blood from his mouth got that much stronger.
“Don’t be stupid.” He whispered. “Jun, give him yours too.” Jun’s hands were shaking as he reached across his belt and held out the blade. He had given up trying to stop the bleeding when he realized it was only slowing down because Ren was running out of blood to bleed. “Tell Gackt thanks… for everything.” Hyde slowly pulled his knife out of it’s sheath and stuck it into his belt before standing and pulling one of the guns Gackt had given him earlier out with his free hand.
“Thank you Ren. You… I’m glad to have met you.” Hyde said, feeling his emotional wall crack slightly as he man’s eyes slid closed again.
“I’m never going to have a better partner than you.” Jun said softly as he finally sat down next to the fallen man and watched Ren’s face slowly grow paler.
“I know.”
Hyde forced himself to walk away towards the building, forced the pain and sadness back behind the same wall he had built to hold back his horror over killing. He couldn’t feel it yet. There was work yet to do before he could break down.
“I’ll never forgive you for dying like this.” There was a weak joking note in Jun’s voice as he spoke through his grief.
“I know. Bandage your wounds Jun. You’re not going where I’m going yet.”
“Ok.”
Hyde didn’t look back until he was deep inside where there was darkness to accompany him only broken by a small dot of light ahead.
Gackt
The attack from Aimi’s newborn was pathetic at best. She hadn’t even trained them after their turning so the young vampire came running at him full on thinking Gackt wasn’t going to be fast enough to bring up his sword. He learned his mistake a moment later when Gackt sidestepped smoothly and turned. The sword sliced through the air cleanly separating the man’s head from his shoulders. Gackt thought back on his words of murder to Hyde as he stared down at the headless corpse for a brief instant. Yet another death to add to his long list. He sighed and looked up at Aimi.
“Is this your best?” he asked her loudly, motioning to the three remaining vampires who didn’t seem to be putting up much more of a fight than his opponent had. Aimi only smiled down at him silently. He rolled his eyes and turned to glance at the other three. Jun and Ren seemed to have the two easily under control if they were having trouble to get near enough to stab them in the heart. Hyde was having a bit more trouble but he seemed to have gotten the only one who knew anything about what he was doing. Jun stopped shooting to reload and glanced at Gackt as he did it.
“Go get her boss, we’ve got this covered!”
“What about Hyde?” Gackt asked. Jun turned to look at the fight going on feet from him and grinned.
“He’s doing fine, I’ll watch him. Get out of here already!” Gackt hesitated for a moment more and Jun started shooting again. Ren glared at him to get lost and Gackt nodded, finally turning towards the building. Above his head Aimi started laughing.
“Come and get me husband mine. We have business to finish.” She said, turning away from the edge of the roof still carrying Ryuu with her. Gackt glanced back once as he entered the building, just catching a last sight of the fighters in the street.
The inside of the building was eerily silent and empty. He had expected to find some abandoned machinery or something but there was nothing. His footsteps echoed off the walls as he walked, sword at his side and swept the walkways that crisscrossed the roof looking for a sign of Aimi’s presence as he passed. He spotted light coming from a room up a flight of rusted stairs and headed in that direction, still keeping his eyes open for any surprises that would be around to meet him.
He reached the top of the stairs unhindered and pushed the door open cautiously. The area beyond it was the mirror image of the one he had just passed through, another large room full of crisscrossing walkways and rusted spots on the metal. This one was well lit though and in the very center of the large clear space on the ground floor stood the woman who had caused all of this staring up at him with two naked knives in her hands. He didn’t see Ryuu anywhere and that worried him. He descended the stairs slowly keeping his eyes on her face as she watched him approach.
“So here we are.” She finally said when he stopped a few steps from the bottom of the stairs no trace of her previous smile on her face. He nodded, sword hanging loosely at his side.
“Where is Ryuu?” he asked quietly. She motioned carelessly to a door behind her which stood open. He could just see some sort of office room beyond it, the corner of a desk and a broken down chair.
“He is safe.” Her face was blank as she examined him for a moment. “Maybe when all this is over I’ll raise him myself, teach him our ways, give him the Gift when he is old enough to appreciate it.” Gackt’s hands tightened on his sword as she spoke as he felt a trace of anger shoot through him.
“You’re over confident.” He told her, shifting slightly for better balance. “That will change.” Now her blank stare broke and her lips curled into a silent snarl. She crouched in preparation for an attack, glaring at him.
“You think you can best me with a blade after all this time?” She asked, anger making her words clipped and short. Gackt shifted slightly once more, gripping the sword hilt with both hands. “I learned from the best just as you did. I am still faster than you.”
“We will see about my wife.” He growled, the sarcasm in his voice permeated the room like a cloud.
“Yes husband dear, we will see.” She sneered in return.
Gackt sank into himself, forcing calmness over his body as she spoke. He remembered his promise to Hyde the night before. He’d need all of his concentration to fight her until the younger vampire reached them. Outside, he could just hear the ringing sounds of gunshots drift in from the street piercing the silence in the room as they stared at each other for an instant, still as statues in the florescent lights above them.
Then her foot shifted and she was flying at him in a blur. His sword flashed in the light as he brought it up just in time to catch her crossed knives on the blade. He kicked at her stomach, forcing her to disengage and skip backwards to keep away from his attack. He chased after her, chopping down with his sword. He knocked it away with her left hand while her right slid under his guard and scored a shallow gash along his stomach. He faltered back before lunging in again and slicing through the muscle in her upper thigh.
She snarled and jumped back once more bringing her knives up in front of her while she examined the slice on her leg. Like his stomach, it bled for only a few seconds before the skin resealed itself leaving behind a large splotch of deep red on her clothing to show it had been there at all. She looked up at him with annoyance snapping in her eyes.
“You’ve been practicing.”
“What did you expect after avoiding you for a few hundred years?” he asked, bringing the blade up to cross his chest. She glared at him silently and then attacked in a blur again, knives shining as she attacked from left and right, trying to catch him off guard. His sword sliced through the air as he tried to keep up with the speed of her attacks, earning him small cuts here and there when the edge of a blade got through his circle of protection to pierce his skin. Soon he was peppered with small spots of blood all up and down his chest.
Finally, she faded back briefly and he lunged forward, intent on doing her some damage. He spun, bringing the blade around in a crescent which she blocked jarringly. He disengaged and spun again, creating a swirling pattern as he brought the blade around once more. She was an instant too slow blocking his swing and he felt steal bite through flesh once more as he cut deeply into her side. Her eyes widened and she threw a series of quick jabs at his stomach to force him to back off.
He pulled free and lunged away, just missing more damage from her knives. Her side bled sluggishly, soaking her in crimson as she yelled in fury and launched herself at him. her deadly blades going for his chest. He managed to turn slightly, just avoiding being stabbed in the heart but one of the knives sank into his shoulder to the hilt. He gasped in pain and aimed a well placed shot at her still bleeding wound with his elbow, forcing her to back off and leave her knife in him.
She skipped back again panting heavily and covering her wound with her hand as the bleeding finally slowed and the wound began closing. He watched carefully as he reached up and tugged the knife out of his flesh and threw it behind him into a corner in the shadows. She glared at him as he took deep breaths and placed a hand over the wound to slow the blood loss while it healed.
“I liked that knife.” She commented. “You didn’t have to throw it.” He just looked at her silently, holding his sword at his side. The sound of battle from outside had ceased and he wondered if the other three would be joining them soon. She too seemed to notice the silence and sighed softly. “Your fledgling will be coming to save you soon.” Her voice filled with malice as she spoke of Hyde. “I guess we’ll have to finish this quickly.”
She lunged instantly catching him by surprise. He brought the sword up again in an attempt to block her attack but she caught the blade with her empty hand. He felt it cut into her palm to the bone before a white hot pain seared across his chest. He looked down to find the hilt of her second knife protruding from his chest right next to his heart close enough to cause some serious damage. She had missed the crucial point though. He looked up and met her eyes in confusion as the pain slowly started stabbing into his brain.
“You…” He said softly, trying to voice his words unsuccessfully. “You…” She just stared at him silently as he stumbled back and fell to the ground.
“Aimi!” A voice called out. He blinked in surprise, allowing his head to fall to the side. Hyde stood at the top of the stairs splattered in drying blood holding a knife in one hand and a gun in the other. The second weapon was pointed at Aimi, who grinned up at him. “That was your last move.” His eyes were oddly blank as he spoke and Gackt wondered briefly what had happened to cause that in him. Where were Jun and Ren?
“Your new lover arrives.” She said to Gackt, who coughed against the blood filling his lungs and rolled over in an attempt to grab the knife and pull it out. He couldn’t heal with a blade in him. “You can’t beat me with a gun.” Hyde’s eyes narrowed and instead of responding, he opened fire as he descended the stairs. Gackt fought off unconsciousness as bullets pinged around him. Only half the shots reached their target but it was enough. Aimi stumbled back against the onslaught and when Hyde ran out of bullets he tossed the gun aside and grabbed the other out of his belt to continue shooting as he closed the distance between them.
Aimi collapsed to the ground as Hyde’s second gun emptied and he tossed it aside as he had the first, bending to pick up Gackt’s sword as he stepped past him. Gackt reached out and grabbed his arm weakly. Hyde looked down at him, the blank look in his eyes softening as he saw the shape Gackt was in.
“Can you do it?” Gackt asked him weakly, feeling blood trickle out of his mouth as he forced the words out. Hyde looked down at him for a moment and Gackt saw his resolve waver as he thought about it. And then he nodded, almost visibly forcing emotion from his face again as he did. Gackt released him and watched as he walked away, forcing himself to reach up once more and grip the knife in his chest once more.
Hyde walked over to Aimi, who was lying on the ground breathing shallowly as the multiple wounds the guns had caused tried to heal. He stared down at her for a moment before bringing the sword up. Gackt gave a sharp tug on the knife, finally dislodging it releasing a lot of blood and sending a wave of pain through his body once more. The last thing he saw before he let it overwhelm him was his sword flashing through the air as Hyde brought it down on his wife’s neck. And then he blacked out.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A.N: The epilogue is written and will be up within a few days. I want to thank all of you again for sticking with me through this and I hope you don’t hate me too much for this chapter.
<3
Main Characters: Megumi Oishi, Hyde, Gackt
Pairings: HydexMegumi, HydexGackt
Rating: R (for violence and maybe other things)
Warnings: Character Death, Vampires, Violence, Angst
Disclaimer: I own only the plot which is a product of my dark demented mind. The characters are the property of themselves and the vampire lore goes back years.
Summary: His wife’s cold-blooded murder leads Hyde down the road of revenge with Gackt as his less than silent accomplice. But when it’s all over, will he finally be able to heal? And what state will Gackt be in?
Hyde
They stood in silence, staring across the street at the group of vampires facing them. Hyde felt his eyes narrow as he spotted the man who had shot his wife among them. “You.” He said softly, hate filling his stomach. The man grinned and twiddled his fingers in greeting.
“This was my reward for getting rid of your pretty little wife.” The man called across the street. Hyde growled deep in this throat as he glared across the street. Next to him, he heard Jun and Ren prepare for a fight as Gackt stood calmly with his sword at his side as if he wasn’t worried about a thing. Aimi laughed softly again before motioning with her hands.
“Well? Go get them children.” On her command, the four vampires tensed and lunged, each going for a different target. Next to him, Hyde heard two guns open fire immediately, peppering two of the four with bullet holes, before Ren pulled an evil looking knife out of his pocket tossed his gun to Jun who caught it without missing a beat and ran for one of the bullet ridden bodies while Jun stood back, covering him with his guns. Hyde only saw the other newborn vampire reach Gackt before he had his own fight to deal with as Megumi’s killer reached him.
Hyde tried to clear his mind as Gackt had been teaching him, to feel the attacks instead of think as he twisted and turned, evading the other vampire’s punches. He wasn’t as fast as Gackt but he was just a touch faster than Ren in a battle where speed meant life or death. But just like Hyde, this vampire didn’t have full control of his powers either. They were evenly matched as they traded kicks and blows. He knew somewhere nearby, Jun was firing his guns again and Ren was yelling something. He heard Gackt’s voice respond and Aimi laugh high and cold before he focused all of his attention back on the vampire in front of him.
He lashed out, feeling his foot connect with flesh as the other vampire stumbled back before grabbing onto Hyde’s foot with supernatural strength and throwing him backwards. Hyde skipped away, catching his balanced before lunging forward and hitting for his chest. One punch landed and Hyde felt bone break under his fist as the other fell back in surprise. He hadn’t expected Hyde to be so fast.
“Hyde!” At the sound of his name, he turned to Jun who threw him a blade similar to Ren’s. He caught it in surprise before looking back up at the other man. “His heart! To kill him you have to stop his heart or take off his head!”
“I could use a little help over here!” Ren’s voice roared and Jun turned back quickly, opening fire on the vampire who was trying to attack his partner from behind as he struggled with the other. Hyde spotted the body of the one who had attacked Gackt lying in the street and found its head a few feet away, eyes wide open as if he were surprised by his sudden death. Gackt himself was running into the building to confront Aimi who no longer stood on the roof. Hyde turned back to his foe, feeling his heart flutter in fear. Here was the time to see if he could kill.
The other vampire had recovered from the broken chest bones and was now eyeing Hyde’s knife with respect, though he was bolder than he should have been. He obviously knew Hyde didn’t really know how to use the weapon. He grinned maliciously and circled waiting for his opening.
“It was fun you know? Watching her die.” Hyde’s hands started shaking again as he realized what his opponent was talking about.
“Don’t you dare talk about my wife!” He threw back. “She deserved better than that. She had nothing to do with any of this and neither does my son.”
“Do you think I care? I was offered a prize for her death and I took it.” He smiled grimly. “And I enjoyed every second of it.” Hyde released an enraged sound as he lunged forward, forgetting about the knife in his hand and punching blindly, feeling some strikes make contact and some be blocked. The vampire stumbled back in surprise at the fury of Hyde’s attack before gaining his footing and holding in the center of the street. He began blocking more and more and for an instant they were at a standstill together in the center of the street, Hyde’s fists locked in the unknown vampire’s grip.
And then he was flying again, like he had when fighting Gackt. His back made contact with hard brick and an instant later, the other vampire was on him, pinning him against the wall.
“You think you can beat me?” The vampire hissed at him. “I took her life and now I’ll send you to join her.” Hyde struggled against the grip holding him against the wall and watched as if in slow motion as the other vampire’s teeth brushed his neck. And then he felt several impacts as the body against his was hit hard from behind. He felt his feet touch the ground again as his opponent fell back, stunned. Hyde looked up to see Jun with his gun aimed in their direction.
“The heart Hyde, use your knife damnit!” Time froze around him as he stared at the bodyguard for a split second. He looked down at the man at his feet breathing shallowly. In a moment the bullet wounds would heal and he’d get back up and attack again. Hyde knew that but he didn’t know if he could take the life from him. And then he remembered Megumi. Megumi smiling and laughing at him, Megumi holding their son the day he was born, Megumi’s fears about being a bad mother, Megumi on their first date, Megumi nervous and beautiful as she kissed him gently goodnight. He felt his heart turn to ice and he dropped to his knees next to her killer, plunging the knife hard into his chest before he could stop himself to think about it.
The vampire under him screamed in pain as blood began gushing from the wound. He reached around trying to pull the knife from his chest but Hyde held it there tightly. He forced himself to watch the last traces of life leave the vampire’s body as his heart continued trying to beat around the cold metal that had pierced it for a few moments more before finally going still and silent. Hyde released a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding, staring down at the body of the man who had murdered his first love, kneeling in the street covered in his blood.
“Rest now Megumi.” He said silently as a single tear leaked out of his eye. Part of him was screaming that he had just killed someone but he forced himself to ignore it as he stood, leaving the knife lodged in the other’s chest. He had killed a killer. Surely it was different than taking the life of an innocent for immortality. A scream of pain rang out across the night, drawing Hyde’s attention upward.
Jun’s guns lay on the ground at his feet, seemingly out of bullets as he fought one of the remaining vampires. It hadn’t been him who yelled. Hyde looked past them to the two struggling bodies in the street. Ren was bleeding heavily from a long gash down his chest as he dodged the attacks of the vampire in front of him. Hyde could see him visibly loosing strength with each move. Swiftly, without thinking, Hyde bent and retrieved the knife from the corpse at his feet and started running towards them. He knew he wasn’t going to make it in time.
“I always thought he was the better of us two…”
Feet from him, Ren went down with the other vampire on him, teeth buried in his throat. Hyde yelled in pure rage, causing the newborn to look up from his meal just as Hyde tackled him roughly, forcing him backwards out of the street away from Ren and into the wall smashing through the brick and as they landed. Hyde shoved the knife into the body under him blindly, aiming for his heart. He missed and pulled it out with a sick squelching noise before stabbing again as the vampire clawed at him, trying to get rid of his weight. The second try hit it’s mark and the vampire screamed just like the first as his heart was pierced. Hyde felt blood splatter him again as the newborn under him screamed and bleed before dying just as the first had.
He held himself off of the body with shaking arms as he took in deep gasping breaths, eyes wide in shock at what he had just done. Two lives in one night he had taken. No matter if they were going to kill him if he didn’t kill them, a life was a life and he was shocked at how easy it had been to end them. How had Gackt lived with this for four thousand years?
He finally pushed himself all the way to his feet and ran out back onto the street wishing he had food in his stomach to vomit up. Instead he collapsed onto his knees and closed his eyes, willing himself to calm down. He forced himself to breath, not to think about the strange blood on his clothes or the dead bodies that littered the street. This wasn’t finished. He could break down and wrack himself with guilt later, he had to check on Ren first and then he had to find Gackt. There was one more life he needed to take tonight and it was the most important one.
“Hyde!” Jun’s voice rang out against the night, filled with pain. He forced himself to look up and meet the other man’s eyes. He was kneeling next to his fallen partner, blood oozing from two heavy cuts on his arm and chest as he held his jacket against the slash down Ren’s chest. His opponent was lying a few feet away with not one but two knife hilts protruding form his chest. Jun jerked his head in summons when Hyde looked up at him, clearly in pain.
Hyde’s body felt detached from his mind as he made himself stand and walk over to them. He dropped to the ground next to Ren, noticing the shallow breaths the other man was trying to drag through his lungs. Jun grabbed Hyde’s hands and positioned them over the cloth in order to keep it in place. The then started ripping pieces off of his shirt to try and stop the bleeding on his throat. The wound on his chest was worse than Hyde had originally thought. It extended from his collarbone to the center of his abdomen and it was deep and bleeding profusely. The jacket covering it was already soaked through with dark blood and more was leaking out around the edges.
“Ren’s a pretty tough guy... he can take a lot of abuse and continue on…”
“I’m sorry Ren-san.” Hyde said as his partner worked to save him. “I wasn’t fast enough I’m sorry.” Ren’s eyes opened a crack at Hyde’s voice and he felt the other man’s chest rumble as he laughed weakly.
“Don’t… beat yourself up Shorty.” Ren said weakly. “You got him in the end. Don’t worry.”
“Don’t talk.” Jun snapped at him tightly pressing a pad of cloth from his shirt over the other man’s neck wounds. He was clearly intent on saving his partner if it was the last thing he did.
“Not going to… make it this time Jun.” He said anyway, ignoring the blood what was still trickling down his neck. “Bastards… finally got me.” Jun growled and shook his head, clearly refusing to believe him. Hyde swallowed the lump in his throat and stared down at the man who had worked so hard to keep him safe the past months.
“I can change you!” Hyde said suddenly. Even as Ren stared shaking his head Hyde kept talking. “I can make you like us. You can live!”
“Never wanted… never wanted that. Eternal life and all that.” He said with a grin. He coughed weakly and a small dribble of blood made it’s way down from the corner of his mouth. “Bandage your own wounds Jun. No sense in you dying from blood loss too.” His partner shook his head fiercly again. Hyde thought he saw tears on the man’s face. He felt himself breaking at the thought of loosing the man but he couldn’t cry. Not yet. He watched from the detached place in his mind as Jun continued working to cut strips for bandaging and Ren slowly slipped away.
“Hyde.” He whispered a moment later. Hyde leaned closer to listen. Ren’s breathing was getting shallower as he continued trying to draw air through the blood and pain. “Take my other knife. Go help Gackt.” Hyde looked down at the knife hilt sticking out of the other man’s jacket and shook his head.
“I’m going to leave you out here.” Hyde said. Ren’s eyes slid closed and he coughed again. The flow of blood from his mouth got that much stronger.
“Don’t be stupid.” He whispered. “Jun, give him yours too.” Jun’s hands were shaking as he reached across his belt and held out the blade. He had given up trying to stop the bleeding when he realized it was only slowing down because Ren was running out of blood to bleed. “Tell Gackt thanks… for everything.” Hyde slowly pulled his knife out of it’s sheath and stuck it into his belt before standing and pulling one of the guns Gackt had given him earlier out with his free hand.
“Thank you Ren. You… I’m glad to have met you.” Hyde said, feeling his emotional wall crack slightly as he man’s eyes slid closed again.
“I’m never going to have a better partner than you.” Jun said softly as he finally sat down next to the fallen man and watched Ren’s face slowly grow paler.
“I know.”
Hyde forced himself to walk away towards the building, forced the pain and sadness back behind the same wall he had built to hold back his horror over killing. He couldn’t feel it yet. There was work yet to do before he could break down.
“I’ll never forgive you for dying like this.” There was a weak joking note in Jun’s voice as he spoke through his grief.
“I know. Bandage your wounds Jun. You’re not going where I’m going yet.”
“Ok.”
Hyde didn’t look back until he was deep inside where there was darkness to accompany him only broken by a small dot of light ahead.
Gackt
The attack from Aimi’s newborn was pathetic at best. She hadn’t even trained them after their turning so the young vampire came running at him full on thinking Gackt wasn’t going to be fast enough to bring up his sword. He learned his mistake a moment later when Gackt sidestepped smoothly and turned. The sword sliced through the air cleanly separating the man’s head from his shoulders. Gackt thought back on his words of murder to Hyde as he stared down at the headless corpse for a brief instant. Yet another death to add to his long list. He sighed and looked up at Aimi.
“Is this your best?” he asked her loudly, motioning to the three remaining vampires who didn’t seem to be putting up much more of a fight than his opponent had. Aimi only smiled down at him silently. He rolled his eyes and turned to glance at the other three. Jun and Ren seemed to have the two easily under control if they were having trouble to get near enough to stab them in the heart. Hyde was having a bit more trouble but he seemed to have gotten the only one who knew anything about what he was doing. Jun stopped shooting to reload and glanced at Gackt as he did it.
“Go get her boss, we’ve got this covered!”
“What about Hyde?” Gackt asked. Jun turned to look at the fight going on feet from him and grinned.
“He’s doing fine, I’ll watch him. Get out of here already!” Gackt hesitated for a moment more and Jun started shooting again. Ren glared at him to get lost and Gackt nodded, finally turning towards the building. Above his head Aimi started laughing.
“Come and get me husband mine. We have business to finish.” She said, turning away from the edge of the roof still carrying Ryuu with her. Gackt glanced back once as he entered the building, just catching a last sight of the fighters in the street.
The inside of the building was eerily silent and empty. He had expected to find some abandoned machinery or something but there was nothing. His footsteps echoed off the walls as he walked, sword at his side and swept the walkways that crisscrossed the roof looking for a sign of Aimi’s presence as he passed. He spotted light coming from a room up a flight of rusted stairs and headed in that direction, still keeping his eyes open for any surprises that would be around to meet him.
He reached the top of the stairs unhindered and pushed the door open cautiously. The area beyond it was the mirror image of the one he had just passed through, another large room full of crisscrossing walkways and rusted spots on the metal. This one was well lit though and in the very center of the large clear space on the ground floor stood the woman who had caused all of this staring up at him with two naked knives in her hands. He didn’t see Ryuu anywhere and that worried him. He descended the stairs slowly keeping his eyes on her face as she watched him approach.
“So here we are.” She finally said when he stopped a few steps from the bottom of the stairs no trace of her previous smile on her face. He nodded, sword hanging loosely at his side.
“Where is Ryuu?” he asked quietly. She motioned carelessly to a door behind her which stood open. He could just see some sort of office room beyond it, the corner of a desk and a broken down chair.
“He is safe.” Her face was blank as she examined him for a moment. “Maybe when all this is over I’ll raise him myself, teach him our ways, give him the Gift when he is old enough to appreciate it.” Gackt’s hands tightened on his sword as she spoke as he felt a trace of anger shoot through him.
“You’re over confident.” He told her, shifting slightly for better balance. “That will change.” Now her blank stare broke and her lips curled into a silent snarl. She crouched in preparation for an attack, glaring at him.
“You think you can best me with a blade after all this time?” She asked, anger making her words clipped and short. Gackt shifted slightly once more, gripping the sword hilt with both hands. “I learned from the best just as you did. I am still faster than you.”
“We will see about my wife.” He growled, the sarcasm in his voice permeated the room like a cloud.
“Yes husband dear, we will see.” She sneered in return.
Gackt sank into himself, forcing calmness over his body as she spoke. He remembered his promise to Hyde the night before. He’d need all of his concentration to fight her until the younger vampire reached them. Outside, he could just hear the ringing sounds of gunshots drift in from the street piercing the silence in the room as they stared at each other for an instant, still as statues in the florescent lights above them.
Then her foot shifted and she was flying at him in a blur. His sword flashed in the light as he brought it up just in time to catch her crossed knives on the blade. He kicked at her stomach, forcing her to disengage and skip backwards to keep away from his attack. He chased after her, chopping down with his sword. He knocked it away with her left hand while her right slid under his guard and scored a shallow gash along his stomach. He faltered back before lunging in again and slicing through the muscle in her upper thigh.
She snarled and jumped back once more bringing her knives up in front of her while she examined the slice on her leg. Like his stomach, it bled for only a few seconds before the skin resealed itself leaving behind a large splotch of deep red on her clothing to show it had been there at all. She looked up at him with annoyance snapping in her eyes.
“You’ve been practicing.”
“What did you expect after avoiding you for a few hundred years?” he asked, bringing the blade up to cross his chest. She glared at him silently and then attacked in a blur again, knives shining as she attacked from left and right, trying to catch him off guard. His sword sliced through the air as he tried to keep up with the speed of her attacks, earning him small cuts here and there when the edge of a blade got through his circle of protection to pierce his skin. Soon he was peppered with small spots of blood all up and down his chest.
Finally, she faded back briefly and he lunged forward, intent on doing her some damage. He spun, bringing the blade around in a crescent which she blocked jarringly. He disengaged and spun again, creating a swirling pattern as he brought the blade around once more. She was an instant too slow blocking his swing and he felt steal bite through flesh once more as he cut deeply into her side. Her eyes widened and she threw a series of quick jabs at his stomach to force him to back off.
He pulled free and lunged away, just missing more damage from her knives. Her side bled sluggishly, soaking her in crimson as she yelled in fury and launched herself at him. her deadly blades going for his chest. He managed to turn slightly, just avoiding being stabbed in the heart but one of the knives sank into his shoulder to the hilt. He gasped in pain and aimed a well placed shot at her still bleeding wound with his elbow, forcing her to back off and leave her knife in him.
She skipped back again panting heavily and covering her wound with her hand as the bleeding finally slowed and the wound began closing. He watched carefully as he reached up and tugged the knife out of his flesh and threw it behind him into a corner in the shadows. She glared at him as he took deep breaths and placed a hand over the wound to slow the blood loss while it healed.
“I liked that knife.” She commented. “You didn’t have to throw it.” He just looked at her silently, holding his sword at his side. The sound of battle from outside had ceased and he wondered if the other three would be joining them soon. She too seemed to notice the silence and sighed softly. “Your fledgling will be coming to save you soon.” Her voice filled with malice as she spoke of Hyde. “I guess we’ll have to finish this quickly.”
She lunged instantly catching him by surprise. He brought the sword up again in an attempt to block her attack but she caught the blade with her empty hand. He felt it cut into her palm to the bone before a white hot pain seared across his chest. He looked down to find the hilt of her second knife protruding from his chest right next to his heart close enough to cause some serious damage. She had missed the crucial point though. He looked up and met her eyes in confusion as the pain slowly started stabbing into his brain.
“You…” He said softly, trying to voice his words unsuccessfully. “You…” She just stared at him silently as he stumbled back and fell to the ground.
“Aimi!” A voice called out. He blinked in surprise, allowing his head to fall to the side. Hyde stood at the top of the stairs splattered in drying blood holding a knife in one hand and a gun in the other. The second weapon was pointed at Aimi, who grinned up at him. “That was your last move.” His eyes were oddly blank as he spoke and Gackt wondered briefly what had happened to cause that in him. Where were Jun and Ren?
“Your new lover arrives.” She said to Gackt, who coughed against the blood filling his lungs and rolled over in an attempt to grab the knife and pull it out. He couldn’t heal with a blade in him. “You can’t beat me with a gun.” Hyde’s eyes narrowed and instead of responding, he opened fire as he descended the stairs. Gackt fought off unconsciousness as bullets pinged around him. Only half the shots reached their target but it was enough. Aimi stumbled back against the onslaught and when Hyde ran out of bullets he tossed the gun aside and grabbed the other out of his belt to continue shooting as he closed the distance between them.
Aimi collapsed to the ground as Hyde’s second gun emptied and he tossed it aside as he had the first, bending to pick up Gackt’s sword as he stepped past him. Gackt reached out and grabbed his arm weakly. Hyde looked down at him, the blank look in his eyes softening as he saw the shape Gackt was in.
“Can you do it?” Gackt asked him weakly, feeling blood trickle out of his mouth as he forced the words out. Hyde looked down at him for a moment and Gackt saw his resolve waver as he thought about it. And then he nodded, almost visibly forcing emotion from his face again as he did. Gackt released him and watched as he walked away, forcing himself to reach up once more and grip the knife in his chest once more.
Hyde walked over to Aimi, who was lying on the ground breathing shallowly as the multiple wounds the guns had caused tried to heal. He stared down at her for a moment before bringing the sword up. Gackt gave a sharp tug on the knife, finally dislodging it releasing a lot of blood and sending a wave of pain through his body once more. The last thing he saw before he let it overwhelm him was his sword flashing through the air as Hyde brought it down on his wife’s neck. And then he blacked out.
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A.N: The epilogue is written and will be up within a few days. I want to thank all of you again for sticking with me through this and I hope you don’t hate me too much for this chapter.
<3