Art by Snow Gao
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Yama walked up to the cots and crouched down to rummage through his bag for his journal.
He's been with (O/N) for the last few hours discussing how exactly they were going to approach the island and make contact without any incidents happening.
The plan was to track down where the island was and approach with a small group. If they were to see a bunch of huge vehicles rolling up to their doorstep, they wouldn't take that as a friendly welcome.
Yama was only there to help with locating the island. He wasn't going anywhere near it himself. He would like to keep his tail and horns where they are.
But in his notebook, he did keep a map of the riverfront of the city where the island is supposed to be. In case he ever miraculously ended up back in the city and needed a way to escape the barbaric humans, he'll be prepared.
Now was as perfect time as any for the old piece of paper.
The doctor pulled out his journal from his bag and opened an inside pocket to pull out the old map he kept. Sure enough, when he opened it, he read the name.
'Cambion Island'
He placed the map into his pocket and went to get up but stopped when he heard a small breath.
He turned his head and saw (Y/N) fast asleep in her cot. She laid on her stomach with her pillow hugged closely against her and a blanket only covering her lower legs because of the heat.
Yama tried breaking his eyes away from her but it was difficult too.
His jaw clenched as he forced himself up to go take the map back to (O/N). Even stopping himself from pushing a strand of her hair away from her face.
As he returned to where his old friend, her husband, and others were discussing he handed the map to (O/N) and she thanked him before opening it up. Yama moved to the back of the group and leaned against some crates with his arms crossed. He was supposed to be paying attention to what they were saying... but he couldn't.
He could imagine what his brother would say if he were here right now.
Probably mock the hell out of him. Say he's gone soft. Became the biggest hypocrite ever. He can hear Akai's voice so clearly when it comes to his feelings that it was annoying again.
Good thing (Y/N) will never get the chance to actually meet him.
Why must she make him feel this way? How long have they known each other? Has to have been weeks now. Maybe a month? Maybe two? He's lost so much track of time getting involved with her.
Trying to limit how much time they spend together, their interactions, intimate moments like what had happened earlier... it's almost impossible when she runs back to him. Puts in an effort to be closer to him.
No matter how much he tries to get away, she keeps catching back up.
Why can't she just stop? This thing that's forming between them, it's not supposed to happen.
He can't be in love with her. And he can't let her feel the same way.
He can't go through that pain again.
Yama didn't realize how absorbed he was in his own mind until he felt a tap on his arm and looked down to meet (O/N)'s yellow eyes. She watched him in worry. His tail was beating against the crates and his foot was tapping rather quickly. No one seemed to notice him but her.
"You alright?" She asked.
"I'm fine." He muttered. She didn't believe him but he didn't look like he was in the mood to talk.
She handed the map back to him after they scanned it and he took it back before standing to leave. But her hand held his shoulder to stop him. "If you want to talk about it-"
"I know." He dismissed her. She watched him leave, knowing there was something wrong.
Training the next day was a bit different than the first. While he still wanted (Y/N) to learn how to escape predicaments he also made Dog, who finally joined this time, act as an Elitist and try to capture her.
Because of how fast Dog was, it was almost impossible to try to avoid him. She only managed to escape him one time by doing the same thing she did with Yama and controlling Dog's blood to force him to stop. Which was also difficult in itself due to his speed.
Seeing her get so excited about actually passing one of his tests made him want to feel glad too. But he didn't allow himself to.
When she would try to hug him, fist bump him, or just try to stand next to him, he would always find an excuse to move away. Calling random breaks or saying the Head Keeper needed him just to get away from her being a few examples.
He didn't allow himself to feel bad about it. Or to see the confused and hurt looks she would give him.
Even back at their cots, (Y/N) began to find herself sleeping alone most of the time. He's never more than a minute at his. Retrieving something from his belongings before going off just to put some distance between them.
It's been like this over the course of a couple of days. The only time they were ever together was during training, and those became less exciting for her and dreadful for him. It was starting to become awkward talking to each other which has never happened before. She wasn't running his ear off whenever she felt social enough and he was keeping his words shorter than normal. Most of the time now, (Y/N) was somewhere with (O/N)'s daughter and nephew or sitting in the shadows with Dog talking about whatever it is they talk about.
He would give the spider demon the occasional glares to make sure he was being careful with what he says to her. She was already on this suicidal revenge mission that he feels incapable of stopping, the last thing he needed was for her to get more crazy ideas.
When the scouting trips to track down the island started, Yama happened to be the first to offer himself up to help. He thought it would be a way to get away from his feelings for some time but...
The Chief's daughter was tagging along.
And she vouched for (Y/N) to come along too.
Now Yama was sitting in the back of a truck with the source of his problems next to him as she and (O/N)'s daughter chatted.
He glared out the window. This had to have been on purpose. The way (O/N)'s daughter always gave him mean looks, she must've vouched for (Y/N) on purpose and put them in the same truck. Makes him wonder if his partner talks about him to her little human friend.
The trucks stopped and B left to go check what was wrong. (Y/N) climbed up to peak out of the roof of the truck for why they stopped and noticed it was another blocked-up street. This was the fifth time they've had to reroute today.
She sat back down and patiently waited for B to come back. But her eyes made their way over to her partner sitting next to her.
She wanted to say something but didn't know what.
Yama tiredly sighed but felt fingers interlace with his. Immediately his jaw clenched and his heart grew heavy as (Y/N) moved their interlaced hands to hold each other. Her thumb ran over his knuckles and softly massaged the skin while choosing not to say anything.
Despite how much he wanted to, he didn't pull his hand away. Maybe the first time in days that he doesn't pull away from her.
Silence fell between them. It wasn't the comfortable silence they once had but it wasn't the uncomfortable silence either. It was somewhere in between.
Only the voices of the Zone outside could be heard.
(Y/N) looked back down at their hands. She hasn't been able to interact with him like this in what feels like so long. She felt like he was pulling away from her, not knowing he really was.
"Yama..?" She mumbled.
It took him a bit to answer but he did. "What?"
She felt her face warm up and she turned to look out the opposite window so he wouldn't see. "You think, once this is all over..."
He both anticipated and dreaded what she was going to say.
"We could... go back to your cabin?" She finally asked, her voice small and full of nervousness.
He sighed. "We?"
She glanced at him and then back down to his hand. "Just me and you. Like before. I... miss that."
She was mainly speaking to herself with that last bit, keeping her voice barely a whisper. But he heard her.
He didn't know how to feel about it.
She wasn't expecting for him to answer. He hasn't said much to her anyways, why would he say anything now? Now she was feeling like an idiot.
"Let's get through this first." He grumbled. It wasn't a yes but it wasn't a no either.
Still felt like he was pushing her away again, all she could do was nod and go back to the silence between them.
Suddenly, the voices of the Zone people outside grew a bit louder. (Y/N) sat up to listen and Yama moved to lean out the window to see what was going on.
From her side of the truck, a figure dashed by towards the back of the truck and the sound of something opening before a dragging sound filled the space. Like a tube. (Y/N) moved to look but darted back down when she noticed the figure just before the door. But they didn't see her. They wore a cloak over them and were busy doing something to the truck.
(Y/N) quickly turned to Yama and motioned that there was someone outside. Carefully, he climbed out of the truck from his side and crept along the side until he reached the back.
He lifted his hand up but soon noticed that there were other cloaked figures at the other two trucks as well. Tampering with whatever they were up to.
It wasn't until he caught the smell of gas that he realized. He turned to look at the group up ahead, and they were all surrounding a demon wearing a similar cloak but no skull mask.
"I'm just passing through. No need to hold up guns, people." She was a female demon and smiled charismatically at the humans. She was pretty short with red skin and cropped black hair that looked spiky.
Jules stepped up with his gun while two other Capturers proceeded to search the demon. Looking for a certain mask specifically. "Are you with those who call themselves Elitists?"
"Oh, those guys? No no no." The demon denied it. "Trust me. If I was, you would know."
But when she glanced over to the trucks and saw Yama inching his way over to the other cloaked demons, she tensed up but caught her composure.
"You know, those are some nice trucks you got there?" She raised her voice enough for the other demons to hear. In an instant, (Y/N) from inside the truck watched them all rip tubes out of gas tanks and rush into the open. They were siphoning the gas.
The red demon the Zone was occupied with smiled at them all before dashing over to an open sewer lid she had popped out of and jumped inside before the Capturers could catch her.
Yama tried stopping the other demons but only managed to grab onto one before dark portals appeared and pulled the remaining demons in them, disappearing entirely.
Chaos ensued as the Zone began to process that they just got robbed. By not the demon pretending robbers they were expecting, but actual demons.
The one Yama had caught was quickly surrounded by Capturers. Some went to check the trucks and realized all of their gas was siphoned out while the rest searched the area for the thieves. When they went to go into the sewer where that red demon escaped through, they soon realized it was locked back up.
(Y/N) came out once she was told it was safe and saw two Capturers hold the caught demon down while the Chief and Second in Command aimed their weapons at them.
"Who are you and where did your people go?!" Jules demanded while the poor demon freaked out.
"Look, this was just a big misunderstanding!" The demon was a guy this time. A rather skittish one, skinny, short brown hair, and terrified of the situation he found himself in.
Axel shoved the barrel of his gun into the demon's temple. "Doesn't look like a misunderstanding to me."
One of the Capturers checking the trucks came over to give a report. "All tapped out. They stole our fuel."
"Goddammit!" Jules groaned.
The vehicles mostly ran on electricity but once the juice runs out, they can switch to fuel instead. Which is very vital for them to get around.
"You're not Elitists, huh?" The Chief interrogated. "Because if you are I have no issue putting a round into your head right now."
"I'M NOT ELITIST! I'M NOT, I SWEAR!" The demon pleaded.
Axel tsked. "No skull mask. Can't be too sure though."
"I- I swear! I am in a group but we are not Elitists. We just needed gas!" The demon explained. "You gotta believe me!"
B stepped up to the group and crouched down to his head. "I got it."
She grabbed the demon's head and forced him to look at her eyes as they began to glow a bright yellow while his clouded over.
(Y/N) watched from where she sat in the truck with Yama standing next to her with his eyes on the lookout. None of them had masks. But who were they?
B blinked and pulled away from the demons after seeing his memories. "He's telling the truth, Sir. They're not Elitists. But they are in the sewers."
"Wait what?!" The demon gasped. How did she know that?!
"Must be why that red one escaped down there." Axel spoke and Jules nodded. "What you wanna do?"
The Chief dragged a hand over his face. This was the last thing he needed out here in the middle of the city. Eventually stranded with no gas. But he had to follow protocol. These demons weren't Elitists.
"Send a truck back to camp to retrieve (O/N) and Torres." Jules ordered before thinking some more. "We use this guy as a bargaining chip. They give us our gas back and we give them their guy back."
B looked unsure. "You sure you want Mom here? We don't know these demons."
But her father reassured her. "Your mother decides what to do with this one, and if the others are straight, then we follow protocol."
Axel nodded and bent down to the captured demon and waved his gun to intimidate him a little. "Your friends will be up for a trade?"
"Yea- yea! They'll give you your gas back!"
Yama tsked and (Y/N) glanced over at him. "I'm not convinced." He muttered.
She leaned against the truck seat and fiddled with the brim of her shirt. "At least they aren't Elitists."