11A/N:
Chapter fifteen - the second to last chapter. It's really been a time, and I know that this chapter is behind the schedule (it was to be out last week, and then the final one this week), but things happened and I just couldn't get myself to do it. That said, this is a very long chapter, and it's also one that was really exhausting and nerve wracking to write. It might sound silly, but I feel you might understand it as you read it. Speaking of, I haven't been able to beta it yet, but I decided to get it out now rather than even later. I'll probably let it be like this until I've written the next part. Then I'll probably go through the whole story and fix both grammar and some story parts. It will be quite a job, but I feel like it will be worth it.
There. Done with the AN. That said, I'd like it if more of you left a review^^.
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Disclaimer:
«I do not own any of the following pictures, music, characters or the original universe. I only own the story itself and the idea.»
Not yet betaed.
A Bloody Rose - Part 15 - "The Overdue Rest"
I stood still. Time passed by, and soon it felt like hours. Had she left? I didn't know. She probably had. After what I said… after what she had learned… who wouldn't? But I wasn't sure. She could still be there; she could still be right behind me. But why would she? There was no reason why she would. That, and Yuki never stayed quiet for long. Still, I didn't dare to turn.
Time passed, and with it, my heartbeats seemed to slow down as well. Then, without warning, my heart jumped, rushing ahead of me, and leaving me short of breath. I clutched my hand, tugging it to my chest struggling to calm it down and get control of myself.
No, not now, it couldn't happen now!
My breath got caught in my throat; neither letting me inhale in new air or rid myself of the old. Ache. Pain. My throat burns. It won't stop, but the pain feeds the pain to create more pain.
Pain. Pain. Pain!
"Zero! Zero! ZERO!"
Something wrapped around me from behind. Something, hands? I looked down, and through a haze, I see something pale and long. And red. Red. Red blood. Blood.
"Stop it! Don't! Zero, get a hold of yourself!"
Blood, there's blood. Yuki. She is covered with blood. Yuki. Blood. Dead?
I don't know. I can't think. All I do… I… Blood.
My vision danced as everything in front of me are shifting in and out of focus. Yuki. The milky white haze got splattered with a crimson. Blood. The sound of a scream. Me?
Everything is nothing. And nothing is… Who? Who is… am.. I?
Me. I'm me. I'm Zero.
Or am I?
Pictures, memories. Snow. Blossoms. Hair.
The woman.
Shizuka.
"ZERO!"
I looked up. What was happening? The red. the white… it was one. And… whatever could it be - I didn't know. Then, a something, a face - I think it was a face. I blinked. The white mist came in once again and covered the world in a blur. Then, though the white, I could make out a few features. It was a face. It had to be that. Yuki. Was it her? Really? Could it? Was I dreaming? What was she doing here? Was she looking in my dream? That, or another mirage? She was dead? Was she? She should be. I think it was true. I had seen it. I had seen her die. The blood. So much blood. It was her blood and it was fault. I had taken her down. It was my fault. It had attacked her. It was over. She was dead - gone. Not here anymore - but still she looked down on me now. Who? She? Her?
I wasn't sure. How could I? I wanted to reach out and touch her, but I couldn't. It was so far and my body. It wasn't there anymore. Why? Why didn't it move? Was it .. could it be that I was dead as well? If that was the truth, it wouldn't be so bad.
Not really.
If Yuki was gone… She was the only reason I was holding onto this world, and with her gone, why would I stay? There were no use. There was nothing left for me beside her. Yes, that was the truth. It had to be. I had killed her. And then, while her blood was still warm between my fingers, I had ended it all. It was true. Yes. The pain. I had felt pain. Its tightening and squeezing, and the sharp pain in my throat. I had ripped it open, I had bled out.
In the end it was kind of comforting. Even though I didn't get to be with Yuki, the two of us was still together. In death, that, and the blood of ours was mixed together in a pool. It was grotesque, but that was how it was. The vampires would probably smell it. They would come. They would drink; feed on us. I hated it, but still, in a twisted way, it felt right. It was as if my life was finally on the right track again. I should have died that night many years ago. The woman, Shizuka, should have killed me. I should have died that night; as food for the vampires. But I hadn't. I had gotten much more than the death would give me. Pain. Suffering, Loneliness. Everything was a punishment that she laid on me for my parents doings. It had been her lover. The pain would have had to be big. A life of misery. And it had been so. All had been a dark nothing, and nothing but suffering.
All except for her. Yuki - my gentle light, my-
*SLAP*
I fell. I fell down, and down, and down. It was as a bottomless hole. Then, it was as if I fell down through the layer of clouds, and suddenly the world in front of me was clear. The haze was gone, the colors was more than white and crimson. Yuki. She was in front of me. She was alive. I opened my mouth, but before I got to say anything, another slap landed on my face. It burned. I wasn't sure if it was because it landed on top of where the previous one landed, or if it was because I was more aware of it. Still, whatever the reason, the slap is far heavier than a normal slap. As I thought this, I noticed with fear that she is once again lifted her arm. My eyes widened and, as the arm came down to deliver yet another blow on my face, I stopped it.
"Don't!"
She stopped. Her eyes widened as I suddenly move.
"You". Are you okay?
I blink. Okay? Was I okay? "How can be? I'm beat up!"
"You?"
"No, You." I scowl at her.
She looks confused for a bit, but then it seem so come to her what I mean. "Ah, oh. This. I ehm… Well. I…"
"You really are quite a work, aren't you? I mean, really; to beat me up like that. A defenceless person just lying still."
"I… Zero…. You were…"
"I was what?" I ask, knowing that I probably won't like the answer I will get. "What is it, Yuki?".
She looks away, avoiding my gaze.
"Yuki," I urge her. "Tell me. You must tell me what I did." Then the fear hits me. What if it was truth in what I had seen. What if I had... "Yuki!" I grasp her by the shoulders. "Did I? Are you?"
"Huh?" She looks at me, but, seeing the panic in my eyes, she quickly shakes her head. "No, no. I'm fine. You didn't… Not me..."
Not her? What did that mean? Could it be someone else? Had I hurt someone else? I look around the room, but there is no one there. Not a soul, just blood.
Blood! I panic. There is blood everywhere. The sheets are sprayed with blood, the wall, and the floor… The floor is the worst. I look down at the floor where I'm sitting and see the pool of blood. Then me. My shirt - my white shirt. It's not a white, it's a crimson. Blood. It's drenched in it. I look down at my pants. Also these are covered with red spots.
It's all blood. I can see it, and, at the same time, I also smell it. The blood is fresh. I sniff, and my senses tell me that the blood is fresh. But then...
"Zero… I really think you should-"
"Yuki." I pin her with my gaze. "Whose blood is this. Tell me."
"I-It's… Zero, you… It's yours."
Mine? Was she saying this was all my blood. It couldn't be, could it? It was so much of it - at least 2 litres. It couldn't be me. If it was, then I should have been-
I suddenly feel dizzy. Closing my eyes, I focus on my breathing and inhale slowly, exhale and inhale again.
"Are you?"
Yuki touch my shoulder, but I don't reply. I focus. I breathe.
If what she said is the truth, then I should have been dead - and at least not as capable and aware as I was. No, there had to be something else. As I calm down a bit, I reach up to my throat. It was nagging me and, as my fingers touched it, I understood why. My dream, the haze, the mirage, it had all started with my throat. It had burned, had suffocated me. Had that been real? Had I really had problems breathing? or, could it be that I had already been in a haze and that the suffocation had been a part of the illusion? I didn't know. It was so many things that was unsure. I didn't know enough, but maybe…
"Yuki," I looked up at her. "The blood… it's so much. My troth, it couldn't bleed that much."
"It… No." She looked at me with big, serious eyes. "It didn't. Or, I mean, it did bleed, but it's nothing serious. I looked - just to be sure - but it's not anything serious."
"But then?" I let the question hang in the air.
"Puke." Yuki looked at the wall and the sheet. "You… I'm not sure what happened. You turned away from me, and then, suddenly, you just threw up. I only heard the sound at first, but then I saw the blood, and-" She shivered. "I didn't know what to do. It was just so much blood. And then you threw up again, and then you staggered and fell. I managed to save your head. but you just kept throwing up. It was like it never stopped, but then it did, and then I-"
"And then you hit me." I finished.
"Yes, but I-"
"I know." I cut her off. I understood why she had done it. To see me lying there like that… She had tried to wake me up - and succeeded. It had been the right thing to do - although that second slap had been unnecessary. "You did the right thing," I told her. "You probably saved me."
"Oh, I-" A pink shade appeared on her face and she was quick to look away. "I just… I mean..."
"Thank you." I gathered my legs under me and stood up.
"Careful!" Yuki jumped onto her feet and grasped onto me to lend me support. "You should stay still. You've lost all this blood and I think the headmaster-"
"No. Not the headmaster." I shook my head. "There is no need for him to come here."
"But the blood?"
"It's quicker if we just clean it up. Besides," I looked over at my nightstand, "it's not mine."
"Not yours? What do you." Her eyes widened. "You didn't-?"
"Of course I didn't!" The thought disgusted me. "What do you think of me?"
"Ah oh, no, I'm sorry, I just..."
"The tablets." I sighed. Her expression was a confused one. "The tablets. They are a supplement of blood, although they are not real, they still behave as if they were. As they are eaten, they such up the liquid in the system and becomes a more blood like substance."
"So it was just the fake blood that you threw up?"
"Yeah…"
"But why? You're not supposed to throw up by them are you?"
"Well, you're not exactly supposed to take a dozen packages at once either."
"A-a! A dozin!" She almost shouted. "Zero, you-"
"Yeah, yeah. I know. I could have overdosed. I get it. I won't do it again."
Her eyes were still big from the shock.
"Stop looking at me like that, will you?" I freed myself from her grip and walked over to the door and made sure it was locked and that the key would block any attempt of opening it. Then, letting out a grunt, I moved over to the bed and sat down on it. It was all a big mess. Not that my room used to be clean or anything, but there wasn't usually blood smeared everywhere.
I looked around. It was such a mess - and this time I couldn't wait around for my roommate to clean it up. No, that was not an alternative. I sighed and looked around for a place to begin. The best would probably be to get up the blood. I forced myself onto my feet and went over to the dresser by the wall. Here I opened the door to the bottom piece and grabbed what was inside. I had been right - it was a big roll of paper. My roomie was very neety, but he also had a lot of allergies in certain times of the year, and so he had to blow his nose several time a day and also during the night. Because of this he always made sure to keep paper close by in case something would happen.
"Here," I threw the roll at Yuki. She looked up, and just too late she realized that the roll was heading for her.
"Ah! Zero!"
I laughed as I listen to her complain. "You should have been able to catch it you know. I mean, what kind of guardian are you? Are you supposed to protect the humans against vampires? How are you going to do that if you get defeated by a roll of paper?"
"Y-you!" She snorted and looked away , but the turned to poke her tongue at me.
I smiled as I returned my attention to the dresser. Inside I got out yet another roll of paper and started to unravel some of it. Then, putting the rest of the roll down beside me on the floor, I kneeled down and laid the paper on to of the red liquid. The red soon soaked through the white paper and I was once again reminded of the haze. It had just been imagination, but still scared me that it had had such an effect on me.
Getting out a new handful of paper, I pick of the soaked ones and carry them over to the trash can. I look over at Yuki, and seeing her do the same, I bring the trash can over to her.
"Thanks," she dumps her own soaked paper in it and looks up at me. "Zero, do you have any soap?"
I nod and point to the dresser. "On the left. It's an orange bottle."
Yuki got on her feet and walked to dresser and pulls it out. "Hm, nice. Yasmin?"
"Don't ask me" I shrug. "It's not mine. It's my roomie - you know how much he likes to clean..."
"Ah yes, that's true." She grabs the bucket placed beside the dresser and pours a bit a sope in in before filling it up with water from the tiny sink. "It's handy though. Not only for this, but in general too."
"Oh?"
"Yes. I mean, you hate to clean, so it would have been a problem if you didn't live with him."
"I guess," I had to agree. Although the students were allowed to do pretty much whatever they wanted when it came to their rooms, there was a strict rule about the tidiness and hygiene in the rooms. It was a pain in the ass, and those that didn't keep up to the standard of the rule got a punishment that was far too strict. So, in that way, I was lucky. "You're pretty lucky youself, Yuki."
"Why?"
"Living with the headmaster I mean. You don't really have to worry with that guy around."
"He's not that bad!"
"I didn't say that he was." I cut her off. "Just that he's giving you a slack."
"He's not!"
"You sure?" I looked down to her bucket.
"Wha?" She followed my gaze. It was a mess. The girl had clearly poured too much soap in the bucket, and it was now flowing a white mass from the bucket, down the sides and to the floor. "Woah!" Surprised, she lets go of the bucket and it falls to the floor and falls to the side, spilling the water over the floor. "Oh! Oh…."
I sigh, but still, I can't help but smile. "Nice job, kid. Now, lay down and crawl?"
"What?"
"You're the cloth, right?" I grin at her and she pouth her mouth. "Come on." I tease her. "down on the floor with you."
"Don't be silly! I'm not-"
Before she gets to complete the sentence, I've grabbed hold of her and pulls her down on the floor with me. I hold her gaze for a moment, and then I start to tickle her.
"IIk! No! Zero, stop- S-stooop! I-I hah, don't- don't - I'll-hah-"
"You'll do what?" I continue, working my hands from her stomach and over to her sides. The whines get higher. "You'll do what, Yuki?"
"No- I- hihi~ kill you~"
Amused, I stopped the tickling. "Oh?" I met her eyes and she looked up at me. "Really?" I let my index finger run along her side. A shiver run through her as I made sure to keep the touch light enough so that it barely tickled her. She was totally and absolutely in my mercy, and she knew it. She had always been super ticklish, and I had always known just how to use that.
"Yuki…" I kept the gaze between us. The playfulness in me suddenly shifted, and I was once again well aware of the situation. Her eyes; big hazles looking up at me. Her face, surrounded by hair that now was wet from soap. The face. So smooth and perfect, her lips. Her lips. Her kiss. I could still feel the sensation of her lips from when they were pressed against mine. I could still feel it, yet it was like I had forgotten. My lips shivered; they longed to recall the feeling, the touch. Her touch.
It wasn't her touch. It had never been. It had been me. It had been wrong.
A/N:
Please leave a review with your thoughts, okay?
it will help me write better in the future^^
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