[closed]

[featheradrift]

WHO: Wanderer (featheradrift) & Various
WHAT: November Catch-all for random threads!
WHERE: Anywhere and everywhere???
WHEN: All of November
WARNINGS: Marked in threads

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[featheradrift]

[ Red. Red, red, and more red. It cascades down Alhaitham, the precious liquid that gives humans life. The sight of it causes Kaveh's heart to swoop wildly, and he feels the stirring of panic in his stomach. Hastily, he presses his mouth against the wound as if to seal it with his lips, pulling Alhaitham even closer as he drops the dagger and steadies the man with an embrace.

The metallic taste of iron fills his mouth. The blood burns his throat as he swallows the fluid, searing in its heat. It is nauseating—the taste, the smell, the gasps of pain and the rapid fluttering of Alhaitham's pulse. He wants to throw up. He wants to cry. He's crying still, tears mixing with the blood to transform into the taste of pain and grief.

But he doesn't stop. He can't allow himself to stop, because it would prolong Alhaitham's suffering. So he drinks and drinks, draining Alhaitham of his life. ]

[justscribing]

[Yuu's mouth seals around the wound, and then there's the suck. Distantly, the similarity to a vampire occurs to Alhaitham. It's a thought that quickly drifts out into the sea of nothingness, unable to tether to his slowly dying brain.

He clenches his teeth. There's no comfort in any of this. What Alhaitham does do with the last of his focus is grip the back of Yuu's garment and shift in the embrace so that he's in a position that makes this as easy as possible even as he rapidly loses strength.

It feels slower than it is. He grows cold, and numb. It's a brief moment that Alhaitham's eyes flutter open, stare at the ceiling with the recognition of the end of it all, and then slip closed once more.

His hand slips next.

His heart stops next.

His chest stills next.

And then the weight of Alhaitham limps completely.]

[featheradrift]

[ His hand slips first, down the puppet's back. His pulse follows, sputtering weakly—badum, badum, badum————————————————————

Alhaitham draws one last, quiet breath, and then he's gone. The entirety of his weight settles onto the puppet, who pulls away from the man's neck and presses his face against Alhaitham's shoulder.

It's silent, at first. Then, there's a high pitched noise, keening—his sobs, finally wrested out of him and free to give form to his sorrow. He cries loudly, stuttered apologies falling from bloodied lips. He grips Alhaitham tightly, the only anchor keeping him from drowning in the wake of his emotions. He cries and cries, for minutes, for hours. He cries until Alhaitham's body cools, and all he is left with is nothing but a lifeless husk.

There's nothing here but him now. He is alone once more. So very, very alone. The puppet has become human—but at what cost?

When the storm dies down, he's left with emptiness. Numbness. Kaveh's heart beats steadily in his chest, but he feels no fuller than before. This heart, freely given to him, filled with love and kindness—it was the one thing he had craved for most. But, why, why, why did he still feel so empty?? He had not been satisfied with Niwa's heart. He had not been satisfied with the Electro Gnosis. He is not satisfied with this heart. Whose heart would fill the void in his chest, and seal away the emptiness that yawns wide in his chest?

He knows the answer already. He does not seek for a heart at all. It is not what he truly wants. It is not what he needs. It is the warmth he's received that seeps out of the cracks of his being and scatters into the sea of blood surrounding him, leaving him empty and hurting. It is love that he has always craved for.

He stands, pulling Alhaitham's body with him. He cradles the man gently, lays him next to Kaveh, and entwines their hands together. Alhaitham and Kaveh. Always together in life. They should be together in death too. ]

Was it worth it? [ He asks into the silence, to the puppet of the fairy tale. ] Was it really worth losing this?

[ Only the steady beating of Kaveh's heart and the metallic taste of Alhaitham's blood answers him as he closes his eyes and allows himself to be swept away.

(If this was what it took to become human, then he'd rather stay a puppet for eternity.) ]