Anabiosis -- Dazai Osamu Angst

5

Things are ramping up. Please read the warnings before every chapter.
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TW/CW: fighting/violence
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Stay safe.

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Chuuya gasped a sharp breath as he was blown back, head finally pulled free from that horrifyingly viscous smoke. He landed a dozen or so feet back, landing heavily on his back. He choked and coughed, relief making his head spin as the almost unbearable pain that the smoke dragged into his veins faded.

Taking one more deep breath of the suddenly sharply cold air, he sat up, rubbing his faintly aching chest with his hand. As he did so he felt the familiar buzz of his ability and he glanced down to find his ability had activated on its own, a thin red sheen around his body.

He slowly zoned into his surroundings and the first thing he noticed was the almost blindingly white, freezing cold fog that coated everything. The next thing he noticed was the sounds of sobbing, screaming, and gunshots. He looked up sharply and found that all of the people present- all the mafia underlings and the ability users alike- were caught in some sort of mass hallucination. They swung and shot blindly around them, some screaming in horror while others had collapsed to the ground, sobbing.

The last thing that caught his attention was the massive swirling column of light. Constructed of rapidly waving strands (not unlike glowing bandages), it spun and twisted wildly. If he squinted through the constant onslaught of light (it was almost hard to look at, his eyes stung) he could faintly make out the shape of a curled-up body near the top of the column.

If anyone asked, Chuuya would forever deny the way his gut twisted at the sight of his part- ex-partner like that. He had barely been conscious enough to hear what the bandaged man had said before the sudden blast, but he had a pretty good idea of what this was. He refused to acknowledge the way his heart beat slightly faster at the idea that he wasn't alone in his strange predicament.

Glancing around, he spotted the blonde man from the ADA near him, gripping his head and stumbling around. He held no fondness for the agent, but Dazai would never leave him alone if he let the agents die to this. Besides, if the blondie was important enough to Dazai to be brought up as blackmail alongside him, he must be something special.

Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. He took a deep breath and darted over, placing a hand on the agent's shoulder, and watched in slight surprise as the red sheen around him spread to encompass the other man. After a few moments, Kunikida's (was that his name? Chuuya wasn't sure) eyes regained some semblance of clarity and he straightened up, seeming dazed. As he looked up, he first seemed to note Chuuya, the red glow, and then, with an expression of poorly concealed concern, he spotted Dazai.

"You okay?" Chuuya asked, having to speak fairly loud to be heard over the tempest of sounds around them. Kunkida nodded. "Whatever this fog is, it's attacking people's psyche." He continued, waving his free arm towards the mafia's soldiers who were still wildly shooting. "You were also taken in by it until I touched you, and I appear to be unaffected. I suppose that you became immune through contact with me." He said, hoping that the agent's situational processing speed was anywhere near Dazai's. To his relief, the blonde nodded and looked around.

"We should get more people free from this fog." He said, adjusting his glasses. As he looked around for a few more seconds, he began to walk towards something huddled on the ground. Chuuya stumbled a bit before speeding after him to keep up. As they approached the person on the ground, the seemingly one person revealed itself to be two people sitting almost back to back. Akutagawa and the Weretiger (this one he knew the name to, Dazai rambled about him sometimes) were both stuck in their own hallucinations. Kunikida kneeled, Chuuya following the motion, and reached out for Atsushi. Chuuya reached out to Akutagawa. The red sheen spread from both men's hands and the two younger boys slowly regained clarity.

"Chuuya-san?" Akutagawa mumbled, looking somewhat confused. Atsushi was in a similar state of confusion. "What's going on? Where's Dazai-san?" He asked.

"This fog makes people hallucinate. I am immune to it, as is anyone who is in any way in contact with me, or with someone who is in contact with me. Dazai is out of control and we don't know how to stop him." He said, speaking in the tone he had learned from Dazai to communicate mission information effectively. Akutagawa seemed to take a moment to process that before giving a firm nod and scanning the surroundings. Atsushi took a moment longer to process the situation but he immediately turned to look at where Dazai was still held in suspension. His expression was sad.

"We need to get closer to him. Maybe we can calm him down!" The weretiger said, getting to his feet with a bit of effort. Kunikida and Chuuya strained a bit to keep in contact.

"We can't. We don't know if it's safe. It could be dangerous." Kunikida said, keeping a solid grip on the boy's shirt. As if to prove his point, a mafia grunt backed into the swirling column, shooting wildly around him. The light seemed to part around him for a moment, like placing something in the path of a waterfall, before closing around him in a split second and tearing him to shreds. He was torn apart until he was little more than a mangled mess, and then the strands seemed to collect the gore and force it out of the column.

Atsushi and Kunikida seemed faintly green while Chuuya and Akutagawa just watched grimly. Gore was a common occurrence in the mafia. Atsushi took a deep breath.

"Let me go over there. If it hits me I can regenerate, but this red stuff seems to protect us, right?" The weretiger said, wringing his hands together anxiously.

"That's too big of a risk. We don't know the kind of damage that stuff does. It could kill you the instant you touch it, for all we know." Kunikida responded, shaking his head. Atsushi looked back to the column and Chuuya spoke up slowly. 

"I'm not sure what exactly this is, but if it's anything like what I think, Dazai could be dying right now." All the others turned to look at him. "I heard him say something before he activated...whatever this is, and it's similar to something I say to activate my trap card. I can only activate it around Dazai because it will kill me if I use it too long and I can't turn it off on my own." At his words, Atsushi wheeled around to face Kunikida again.

"See! We have to help him!" He yelped, seeming frantic. "He could die, Kunikida-kun!" Kunikida seemed to hesitate, expression uncertain, before sighing heavily.

"Okay. We can get closer. If it hurts you at all though we're retreating immediately." He said, seeming defeated. Atsushi cheered a bit and immediately began to head for the column, making the other three race to keep up.

The column was significantly bigger up close. The strands whirled wildly, the sound almost deafening at this distance. They had to fight to stay standing against the wind billowing from it. Atsushi took a deep breath before reaching forward and plunging his arm into the light up to the elbow.