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 Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2021 8:30 pm
“Wake up, wake up, wake up,” Cymophane whispered, rapidly, repeatedly — a useless mantra to save his dying brother.
There were tears on his face when the aura of a General finally flared into existence. In reality, less than a minute passed between his first frantic distress call and the General’s arrival, but with Lev’s blood seeping out around him, it felt like an eternity.
“Please!” Cymophane said, heading jerking up to seek out the lone Genera. “Hur—”
The request, part demand, died on his tongue.
Standing before him was not General Jet, as Cymophane had hoped, but General Aquamarine.
---
Dispassionate, Aquamarine gazed down at Jet’s pretty blond corrupt Senshi, then the blood-soaked civilian sprawled out across the pavement, nose wrinkling at the deep gouges carved out of him.
Aquamarine didn’t make a habit of responding to distress calls unless they came from Jet, but he was in the area and heard the familiar voice. Curiosity got the best of him — and arrogance, too, perhaps, hoping he would have something to hold over the little Senshi the next time he decided to make eyes at Jet.
The scene awaiting him could not have been more perfect.
“Trouble?” he said by way of greeting.
---
“General…” Cymophane had to pause before he tripped over his words, heart racing as his brother grew paler. “There was a youma, there’s no time to explain, he needs a hospital.”
The General’s eyebrows rose, but his impassive expression did not change otherwise.
---
“Who is he?” Aquamarine asked.
---
Cymophane visibly swallowed. Instinct told him he should protect Lev’s identity, give Aquamarine nothing, because revealing anything would put them both in danger.
But Lev was already in danger.
“He’s my brother,” Cymophane choked out, watching Aquamarine’s eyes brighten with understanding and satisfaction.
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Posted: Sun Jun 27, 2021 10:19 am
He could hear his brother’s voice. Lev was still conscious enough for that, at least. Just as he was still conscious enough to be able to finally open his eyes and look up at the strangely dressed blond his brother was talking to.
“Who is he?” Lev grunted in Russian, mocking the way the young man asked Misha about him. He coughed, but tried to keep his mouth closed. He could taste the blood and quickly swallowed it down.
“Is he that monster--?” again in Russian, because the last he saw, the monster was still running around trying to attack Misha. But if it was gone and this little twink was there instead, then Lev thought it was perfectly understandable for him to jump to that conclusion.
“We don’t need his help. Call for Uber. Or I walk.” Russian once more, and he even made an effort to push himself up, his hand pressing into the puddle of his own blood in the street. Ah, so maybe he should wait for an ambulance. If he had that kind of time.
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Posted: Sun Jun 27, 2021 4:51 pm
Relief washed over Cymophane when Lev seemed to wake, but it was short lived. Lev was coughing up blood, and he was rapidly losing what little color he had, shaking as he tried to rise.
“Stop,” Cymophane said, using Russian to respond, trying to get through to Lev, who might be delirious. “Don’t move. You’ll hurt yourself.”
Cymophane wrapped his arms around his brother, held Lev close to his chest. Lev was taller and broader than him, but transformed like this, Cymophane hardly noticed the weight.
“He’s not a monster.” Cymophane’s throat nearly closed around the words. The gleam in Aquamarine’s eyes seemed to indicate that might be a lie. Switching back to English, Cymophane said, “General, please. If you could just teleport us to the hospital, I can take it from there.”--- “And why should I do that?” Aquamarine asked.
He cared nothing for this man. Aquamarine barely acknowledged him, spared him little more than a glance, and ignored the mumbled words he could not understand.
Minimizing civilian casualties should be a priority for the Negaverse, it was true, but saving one who was dumb or unfortunate enough to get in the way of a stray youma was a waste of time and effort. The deed was done. The youma came, the youma went, and the civilian would die.
But Aquamarine did take a not insignificant amount of satisfaction in knowing he had this Senshi at his mercy.--- Because he’s my brother and I love him, Cymophane almost said, but he held the words back, knew Aquamarine wouldn’t care about things like that, not when he looked at Cymophane as if he was worth nothing, and treated Lev as if he was worth even less.
“Because if you don’t, I’ll tell General Jet,” he said instead.--- Aquamarine snorted. It was a decent effort, but it hardly fazed him.
“You won’t be able to tell him anything if I rip out your starseed right here. Poor little corrupt Senshi thought he could save his brother from a youma and ended up getting himself killed.”--- Cymophane should have known that would be the response. Part of him did, but he hoped, perhaps foolishly, that invoking Jet’s name would be enough to make Aquamarine listen to reason. From his limited dealings with Aquamarine, Cymophane knew him as jealous and spiteful, petty and unsympathetic. Yet, despite those significant flaws, Cymophane also knew him as loyal to Jet above all else.
Cymophane could be, too, if Aquamarine would just give him the chance to prove it.
“I’ve been loyal!” Cymophane said, shouting before he could think better of it. “I do what I’m told! I don’t complain about anything!”--- “And that’s supposed to mean you’re useful?” Aquamarine said, unmoved.
Slowly, he crouched down beside the civilian, looking at his wounds rather than his face. The Senshi watched him quietly; he swallowed audibly, likely struggling to come up with a convincing argument.
Once Aquamarine looked his fill, his eyes flicked up to meet the civilian’s gaze. “You want to live?”
Most people did, didn’t they? Even the ones that thought longingly of death often grew scared of it when it was upon them. This man didn’t strike Aquamarine as the sort to go without a fight. There was strength in him. He had something to live for.
“Tell me why.”
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Posted: Sun Jun 27, 2021 6:21 pm
Perhaps he was just delirious already, but Misha was much stronger than he looked. He didn’t seem to weigh anything in his little brother’s arms, although he hated the idea of bleeding all over him.
Lev blinked a few times, trying to keep the darkness around the edges of his vision at bay. He felt cold more than he felt the pain, but he knew that was probably not a good sign. And he had no idea what Misha and this other young man were talking about. A jet? Senshi? Youma?
His eyes followed the fancy looking boy as he crouched down beside him, scowling at his smug expression. He was clearly causing his little brother distress, although it might have to do with him being gravely injured.
“Yeah, I’d like to live,” he mumbled with slurred words. “So I can punch your perfect little nose. ******** off.” Followed by a few additional colorful curses in Russian.
What kind of question was that? Did he get a kick out of the dying words of people? Tell me why. What kind of bullshit was this? Being mocked as he was dying and traumatising his little brother in the process??
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Posted: Sun Jun 27, 2021 6:47 pm
If Cymophane were not so horrified, he would have laughed. The response was Lev through and through, but his slurring words, the weakness of his voice, all of it combined to remove the humor from the moment. Somewhere beneath the hole in his chest, Cymophane’s heart ached.
If Lev died, someone would have to rip it out of him. Cymophane didn’t think he could bear it.
“Lev, stop.”
Whatever chance there might have been to change Aquamarine’s mind, it had to be long gone now.--- On the contrary, Aquamarine’s mind had been made up the moment he realized what was happening.
He might enjoy the heartless act, he might revel at this chance to string Jet’s Senshi along, and he might not care about this man, this Lev, under normal circumstances. If Lev were anyone else, some random civilian the Senshi was intent on saving, Aquamarine would have left him there to die, no questions asked.
Instead, he was faced with a brother, and some part of Aquamarine, deeply buried under layers of disdain, could not ignore that.
Seven years ago, a different brother lay on the ground, drenched in his own blood.
Aquamarine sighed through his perfect little nose.
“Brothers die in war,” he said.
But he placed his palm against Lev’s chest.--- “What are you doing?!” Cymophane said, eyes wide, voice panicky, holding Lev closer.--- “Saving him,” Aquamarine replied. “Isn’t that what you want?”--- Cymophane wanted to say, Not like this, but he thought it might throw his loyalty into question.
He had his own reasons for joining the Negaverse, reasons he hadn’t shared with General Jet, or Yuuri, reasons he hadn’t even fully acknowledged himself. But, loyal as he was, devoted as he intended to be, it was not what he wanted for Lev.
Like this, Lev wouldn’t even have a choice.
“He won’t survive it!” Cymophane cried, face white with fear and red with tears.--- “He will,” Aquamarine said. “He’s a stubborn b*****d.”
Too stubborn for his own good, perhaps.
Without another word, Aquamarine sank his palm into Lev’s chest and took hold of his starseed, flooding his soul with Chaos.
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Posted: Sun Jun 27, 2021 7:20 pm
Lev had no idea what was going on. He just knew that his brother was distressed and Mr. Perfect Nose was being high and mighty about something, and it pissed him off if only because it was distressing Misha.
He didn’t see the hand go into his chest, but he could immediately feel the push of Chaos. He let out a shout of pain, not having expected it on top of the pain he was already experiencing, and went to try and push Aquamarine away, a bloody hand grabbing onto the front of his uniform but not being able to do much other than that.
At his full strength he would have hurled the boy across the street. Probably. Or just shoved him roughly away. But right now, all he could do was hold on as the pain intensified, muttering curses in Russian directed at the punchable face. And then when he was certain he had no ounce of strength left to hold on--
But that was about all the consciousness he could hold onto. His eyes rolled back and his hand fell limp from the uniform he’d clung to.
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Posted: Sun Jun 27, 2021 7:43 pm
“Lev! Lev!”
If it weren’t for Lev’s grievous injuries, Cymophane would try to shake him awake. With a fresh uniform in place, his wounds were no longer visible. For a moment, it was almost as if Lev were whole again, unscathed and flawless as he’d been before, but it wasn’t long before blood began to soak through his jacket.
“You’ve killed him!” Cymophane shouted, meeting Aquamarine with an accusatory glare.--- “Don’t be so dramatic,” Aquamarine scoffed.
He ignored the blood on his own jacket and summoned a freshly acquired starseed from subspace. With Lev unconscious, Aquamarine had to pry his jaws open and shove the starseed between his teeth, forcing him to eat it.
It wouldn’t heal him, but it would give him the energy he needed to survive.--- “Why?” Cymophane asked, weak from shock, distressed to the point of inaction. All he could do was watch Lev breathe.
Keep breathing, he thought.--- “You owe me now,” Aquamarine explained. “I own you. And him. Reidite, I think I'll call him.”
When he was sure the starseed was doing its work, Aquamarine paused to examine his new acquisition. He smirked to himself, pleased despite the many sources of aggravation this was sure to bring him later.
What would make Jet angrier, that Aquamarine had taunted his poor little Senshi, or that he’d managed to recruit someone who wasn’t a Senshi before him?
“He still needs medical attention,” Aquamarine observed.--- Cymophane sniffled, and dared to hope, “Will you teleport us to the hospital now?”--- Mockingly, Aquamarine asked, “Are the medical facilities in Negaspace not good enough for you?”--- “Please...” Cymophane begged. On the edge of his helplessness there was a hint of frustration.--- Aquamarine smirked, amused.
“I think I like you better this way.”
Finally, before the Senshi decided to weep all over him, Aquamarine placed a hand on each of them and teleported them away.
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