Chapter Text
Heavy breaths were escaping you, as you focused on going forward, to take on one more Wanderer but your strength was leaving you. Your eyes took in your bloody hands, one more flashback coursing through your mind of a time you had no memory of.
The N109 Zone may have been dangerous without your current condition but right now it was an active killing zone – one you weren’t quite sure you would be escaping. You remembered Xavier’s face as he talked about it, the pebbles underneath your knees suddenly hurting way more than before, and the wind blowing so hard you didn’t trust yourself to get up anymore.
The only thing left was hope – one last prayer, one last hopeful thought sent into the universe as you noticed another Wanderer closing in.
You had been a bad person after all, hadn’t you? That thought had kept you awake for quite some time. It was in every crevice of your body, it was in every dream you had at night and in those god forsaken flashbacks that made your head hurt. Maybe it was what you deserved? Perhaps this was the fate you had coming for destroying other people’s lives?
“Not today,” you heard someone say, their feet right in front of you. The bright boots and the white uniform made you want to continue being hopeful. But you weren’t sure if this wasn’t another awful trick of your mind, not daring to look up, afraid of being let down again.
Then your head spun, that same headache overcoming you, spreading throughout your body and taking hostage of you. You were never really able to snap out of it on your own. You just had to take it, you just had to let another flashback flood your senses, wash over you, and shake you to the core.
But when a hand was put on your shoulder, sliding down to grab you by the upper arm and pull you upwards and onto your feet, you did snap out of it.
Yet, your body didn’t want to listen to you. Your legs gave out as you fell into the man’s arms, who was quick to react. With his left arm, he spun you around, pressing you onto his side, while fighting another Wanderer, occasionally shoving you behind him when one of their attacks came too close.
Xavier.
You thought it before you could say it. It was Xavier. It was him, coming for your rescue, yet again.
“Xavier,” you said, your own voice sounded so strained you weren’t quite sure if it was even you who spoke.
“We are close to the border, once we are out of this zone, I can patch you up.” He said, stopping another blow. “Just stay awake.”
But those words were like magic to your exhausted mind, wanting to do the opposite, needing to fall asleep, to rest, to give up and float away but you shook your head – trying to shake these thoughts off.
Then you blinked and your eyesight was blurry. You saw Xavier above you, rough concrete stabbing you in the back. You were leaning against it, your head too heavy to fully raise.
“You’re awake.” He stated but the tone in his voice revealed his worry and betrayed his stoic expression. A sigh of relief escaped him and you blinked a few more times to adjust to the sudden change in scenery.
“Where are we?” You coughed out, finally seeing him clearer as he was patching your bleeding arm up.
“Still in the N109 Zone,” he replied, a sudden frown on his face making you want to frown as well. “I had to take you out of there, there were too many Wanderers and he is after us.”
“He…,” you wondered. Your mind was foggy but when you saw Xavier look up from the wound on your arm and the bandage he had wrapped around it to look you in the eyes, your stomach dropped. Feeling his uneasiness made you awfully aware of the sudden nausea overcoming you.
He got up from his crouching position, taking you with him, putting you on wobbly legs.
You still felt dizzy but somehow you were able to stand without needing his assistance.
“How did you know where I was?” Your question made him furrow his eyebrows together in thought.
“You called for me.” He simply replied. “And I came.”
And then you felt the sudden change in the air. The air grew icy, overwhelming your already sensitive senses. The icy feeling melted away with no warning, leaving an uncomfortable heat behind, and sudden sweaty drops building on your skin.
One single caw.
Then you saw him. On the roof, his hands in his pockets with Mephisto now flying off from his spot on the trashcans in the same alley Xavier had brought you to, to land on Sylus’ shoulder.
With one arm raised, he snapped his fingers, suddenly appearing right in front of you but before you could say something, Xavier grabbed your hand.
“Don’t look back, just run!” He told you and you did.
He pulled you with him mostly but you two passed blocks of destruction and debris without looking back once. You heard groups of people occasionally whistling, to try to get you to stop, to try to get you closer to them – it was obvious you two didn’t belong here but you hoped they didn’t know who you were running from. You didn’t need to know what dangers it would add to your already danger-filled journey if the residents of the N109 Zone knew you were running from the leader of Onychinus.
But it seemed Sylus was simply playing with his food, letting you run off with Xavier, letting you believe it was working, letting Xavier believe he was saving you, up until the point you passed one street you felt looked familiar to you, but you had no time to wonder about it as Xavier kept pulling you with him.
Fighting through the nausea and the exhaustion, you put everything aside to focus on your breathing and running, even with Mephisto occasionally flying near you, watching you – always watching you.
As if he was finally bored with the cat-and-mouse game, Sylus suddenly appeared right in front of Xavier, so suddenly, Xavier struggled to stop without crashing right into him.
The moment he understood that this time Sylus stood rooted to the ground, not letting you pass, Xavier put a considerable safe distance between you two and Sylus.
“I don’t think I was this much of a bad host for you to just up and leave, was I?” Sylus finally spoke, that deep voice of his still as calm as ever. He made one step towards you, only for Xavier to pull his sword out.
“Stop right there!” His sword was raised, ready to attack.
“Or what? Will you kill me?” Sylus laughed, then took another step forward. “Will you try?”
His last question was obviously directed at you but your mind was still foggy and your memories of the past few days were missing in chunks.
“You can try. I can give you your gun back right now.” He said and that’s when you remembered, that you did in fact haven’t had your guns with you. “Would you like some assistance again? Yes? No? Maybe so?”
Another two steps forward and Xavier finally shoved you behind him with a force that sent you tumbling backward.
“I do not appreciate you handling my things so roughly.” Sylus shook his head, then made another step forward until he was directly in front of Xavier, towering over him.
“We are leaving,” Xavier answered, not bothering to play into Sylus’ little games. “Get out of my way.”
“Always the hero, never the chosen, aren’t you?”
Sylus simply stepped to the side, no longer giving him any attention, his gaze focused on you like a predator locked onto its prey.
Xavier didn’t hesitate then, his sword attack combined with his Evol, targeting Sylus. He slashed at him, stabbing him in the chest, his sides, even going as far as trying to put it through his heart like a revenge-filled vampire hunter trying to stake the damned vampire. It stopped the taller man in his movement, at least for a minute, his wounds bleeding crimson, running down his black-clothed body, forming a puddle beneath his feet as you watched in horror. His expression barely changed but you were able to spot the short discomfort passing through his handsome features. His hand grasped the large blade, pushing it further inside, looking at Xavier who was pulled forward by the sudden strength Sylus possessed as he kept pushing.
This time Xavier tugged, wanting his sword back, wanting this horror and gory spiel to stop, and only when you stepped forward did Sylus stop. There wasn’t a spot on his body that wasn’t covered in his own blood besides his face, but even his face wasn’t spared by a few splatters of his blood.
“It is time to go home, kitten.” He told you, finally twisting the sword in his chest and you knew if not all of the other attacks then this one would have surely killed any person, monster, wanderer. But he only pulled the sword out with one sudden movement, throwing it away like it weighed nothing, Xavier tumbling along with it.
You shook your head and he tilted his head, his Evol activating and his wounds finally healing. The blood stains remained.
“I gave you time to figure things out yourself, kitten, but I’m afraid my patience is wearing thin. You are not leaving this place.”
“So what? You want to kidnap a hunter? They will go through the whole N109 Zone if they have to if a hunter is kidnapped.” Xavier's words of reasoning seemed to pull Sylus out of his trance for a split second, his attention back on the other man.
“I have handled that,” Sylus said, nodding at Xavier's coat pocket, and as if on cue, you heard his phone vibrate.
You saw the turmoil on his face as he fought with himself not to immediately whip his phone out and check what he was talking about but Sylus simply shrugged. His own hand disappeared into the depths of his dark coat, fishing out your phone.
“You seemed to have forgotten this at my place in your rush of wanting to leave.” He tapped the screen once, showing you the newest notification sitting on top. “Take it, read it, keep it, and internalize it.”
He handed you your phone, his fingers lingering over yours longer than necessary. You unlocked your phone and checked the notification, seeing Xavier do the same.
“Infamous N109 Zone taking another victim with Wanderers wreaking havoc – another hunter has seemingly vanished after being seen near its borders.”
“They might come to look for you but I have my eyes everywhere,” Sylus’ smug smile disappeared as he spun around to look at Xavier, “and as far as I know, you are the one getting her in here.”
He shook his head with a playful expression, Luke and Kieran appearing from the dark mist that was creeping around. They faced Xavier as Sylus was back to face you.
With one more added step he was right in front of you, his gaze anything but soft, yet with more emotion than you had ever seen anywhere else. No one had ever looked at you with such intensity, with such a mixture of emotions that rivaled your own.
“Enough with the games, I have given you enough playtime. Accept your new situation.” He told you. His hand came out from underneath his coat to cup your cheek. His touch was gentle until it wasn’t – his long fingers suddenly poking you in the cheeks as he slid his palm further down to grip you by the chin.
“I hate you.” Your words seemingly didn’t bother him, only igniting something within him that you didn’t need to be ignited. Not now or anytime soon.
With his free hand, he took one of your guns out, shoving it into your hand as he let go of your face.
“Do you? Prove it to me.”
You felt him put the grip of the gun in your hand, stroking the magazine as he made sure you held it right. His hand didn’t leave yours, though, pulling your hand up to point the gun against his chest, right where his heart was. What would another wound and another bloodstain change after all? But he seemed to want to make a point. One that was grim enough without you needing to shoot him for it.
He pressed your finger through the trigger guard where you let it rest on the trigger as he repositioned the gun one more time.
“Shoot me. Show me how much you hate me. Make me feel your anger.”
He, himself, pulled the trigger with your finger on it, as if to say: “I am making you complicit”. The sound was too loud, your ears were ringing and he was pushed backward from the blow but he was still standing, his expression barely changing.
“You cannot escape me.” He said, raising his wrist to remind you of the invisible handcuffs binding you to him. “Tell your little boy toy to go home. This situation is too big for him to handle.”
As if you were a dog on a leash, he was requesting you to come back. He pulled on that invisible string and you cursed at yourself for resonating with him. Still not having found out how or when the weird pull between you disappeared or manifested right back, he had seemed to figure out a strange loophole. Maybe it was true. Maybe the both of you were like snakes trying to devour each other and when one pulled back, the other snapped forward to close the distance.
“Please, just let me go home.” You begged and your voice broke off. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips, enjoying your despair.
“It should be in your best interest not to defy me. I cannot be killed – I cannot say the same thing about your little friends.”
“Don’t even think about threatening them”, your anger came bubbling towards the surface, exhausted and tired from running away and fighting.
“Or what, little kitten?” He tilted his head and looked at you with those red eyes and you yielded. You turned to Xavier who was being cornered by Luke and Kieran still.
“Don’t look at him. Look at me.” Sylus requested your full attention but you would be damned if you started listening to him willingly.
Xavier’s expression soured when he saw Sylus so close to you, invading your personal space to the point of it even bothering him.
Then you nodded at Xavier, a silent plea on your lips and he shook his head, knowing what you were communicating without saying it out loud.
You opened your mouth to say one last thing, maybe give him some hope, perhaps giving yourself some hope but Sylus' hand slid across your mouth and pulled you back. He had moved behind you without you noticing, Mephisto flying in front of your face now, wanting to steal your attention away from Xavier. Your back was pushed against his chest – the same man who, for all you knew by now, could be the devil himself at this point.
“Enough.” He spoke – powerfully, demanding, and overwhelming.
You couldn’t help but close your eyes as darkness engulfed you.