Sullivan floored the brakes, the car breezing down the oncoming slope. He turned the wheels sideways to cease on the ice, the whole vehicle nearly flipping over. The skidding vibrated the truck, finally smashing it amongst the rails. The boys nearly suffered whiplash, luckily still in one piece in time to see the other car tumble off the rails and into the woods in a violent, merciless manner.
The landing was hushed in the winter air, only a snap of a tall tree and a burst of the engine heard from the distance.
It sank in on the brunette, haunting him slightly. He brushed it off, quickly unbuckling himself and escaped the car. He helplessly skidded up the hill, sliding as he raced to his friend.
"MIKA!" he screamed through the winter night, trying with all of his might not to collapse on his face. He booked it down the rocky side, his tears freezing on his face as he failed to stifle his cries.
He followed the splatter of blood, his lungs and heart aching as he saw his companion laying cold out on the frozen snow. His neck appeared broken, his head situated as if he didn't survive.
"Don't you fucking dare," Sully wept to himself, racing up next to his injured friend. He dropped next to him, crying as he pulled him up onto his lap. Mika gazed up at the sky lifelessly, his left eye infected with blood. He fearfully gazed at Sully, his hearing coming in distorted waves. He could see himself meeting the ice over and over, as if that was his last moment.
His head pulsed, blood streaming out at the second.
"Buddy," Sully cried, inspecting the fracture in his brow. "Buddy... Your eye..."
His companion looked half-purple in his sights, his normal tanned complexion now a strong brown. He reached out helplessly to Sully's shoulder, asking for help.
"Come on, bud... I got you... Don't die, I swear Mika I will kill you if you die on me," the brunette sobbed, carrying his best friend in his arms despite how much heavier he was.
The blond pressed his face into Sully's jacket, trying his best to stay awake.
~
"Where is he?!" Sully barked as hopped down from Mika's attic. "Little shit... I swear to God, this is why I don't fuck with sophomores."
He ran his hand through his hair frantically, exhaling with puffed cheeks as he checked the bathroom, the living room, and even the pantry.
A nine millimeter pistol was missing.
Sully sank as he felt the empty shelf. "God, that kid is a fucking cunt."
He slammed the door shut, walking past the kitchen. Tyro raced up to him excitedly, barking at the possible situation of violence from his owner's sudden outburst.
"Sit down," he murmured, gazing into the kitchen before the blue paper taped to the fridge caught his eyes.
"What?" Mika slurred as Trevor bandaged his head in the backseat. "Wh... Where is he... Then?"
"The fucker said he went out to the drugstore for God knows what. What the hell does he need MY gun for?! For the drugstore? He's a robber now?You hookin' up with some fraud? Some spy, man?"
"No... No, Sul, he wouldn't... He wouldn't do that, I swear to you," heaved Mika, licking his chapped lips. His bloody eye itched horribly. "I swear... Ah, he does dumb things but... He doesn't - he doesn't like violence - I promise... If he did that... If he did that it was for-"
"A reason, right, yeah, sure." Sully scoffed, hopping back into the front seat. "You sure he doesn't want revenge for the fucker who shot him in the first place? You know kids like that only shoot 'cause they're tired of people's shit. They're sick of being bullied; tired of sitting on the outskirts."
"Yuu isn't like that, Sully," Mika tried again, swallowing the lump in his throat. "Just... Where are we going?"
"Orphanage. If he isn't there, Mika... I don't know what to tell you bud, but I ain't letting him around my shit anymore. You're dating him outside of the house."
"Just... Let me in when we get there."
"You can't. Walk."
"No, I can, just let me know."
Sully shot him a look despite driving forward. "You fuckin' dumb? The kid went back there to go fuck with his friend, and you still trust his ass?"
"Yes." Mika hissed. "I do. Don't yell at me. I know... I know him, Sully. I do. Don't come at me, just..."
He saw the bloody tear tread down the blond's face in the rearview, begging for forgiveness. He hiccuped slightly from the injury giving him shock.
"Fine..."
"...Do you really hate him?" Mika croaked, his head finally set down as the handiwork of the bandage was finished.
Sully sighed, leaning his back against the headrest. "No, I just... I don't like people touching my shit like that. I don't like how he fucking went back there knowing that his friend is there - whom you hate. I don't want you having another panic attack and scaring the shit out of me like that again - every time it scares me, Mika. You're my brother and that shit isn't allowed while I know you," he forced, hurriedly wiping the tears from his eyes.
Mika smiled, nodding his head. "I promise... I'll be okay. I trust Yuu... Please, trust him, too... Please. He's the reason I don't take my pills anymore," he begged.
"You win... I trust him..." Sully confirmed with vexation, tightening his fingers on the steering wheel.
~
Mika hopped out of the car, stumbling slightly in the snow. He followed Sully close behind, stopping as the brunette turned back to face the car.
"Boys, make sure no cops come. Hide the car, 'specially the license plate. Come in if we take more than fifteen minutes," he ordered. "I only need one injured idiot tonight."
Mika shook his head, hoping he'd live with just one eye of use.
The lock was smashed with the butt of the gun to give the two boys access into the building, sudden darkness welcoming them.
"God... Why the fuck would Yuu run away in here?" murmured Sully, searching for a light switch.
Mika stayed close to the flickering kitchen light, noticing the dining chairs and tables a scattered mess. The stove gurgled, arising his suspicion.
"Oh, shit..." He heard Sully from the other room down the hall, making him sweat slightly. "I forgot there's kids here."
A moment later, Sully had them in a line, urging them all out.
"Buddy, run them to the car real fast, I'll keep looking for Yuu-"
"No," Mika retorted weakly, waving a hand. "I want to find him, get them to Trevor and-"
"Cut the bullshit - bring them to the car. Now, before they start running," Sully hissed, stuffing his gun in his back pocket.
"No!" Mika barked, shoving Sully aside. "I said I've got it..."
"You look like a dumbass trying to pull this shit with half your face fucked up. This isn't a choice, Mika, I'm trying to keep you safe-"
"Go!" Mika coughed, turning to go down the hall. "Those kids don't like me."
The brunette stared down at the kids, all of them violently shaking their heads. He was a curse in their house.
Sully rolled his eyes, urging them out the door as fast as possible, carrying the barefoot ones from the snow.
Mika stammered down the hall with weak coughs, squinting at the silence. "Yuu," he cried, opening a door. Dolls scattered the floor, a pack of cigarettes falling out of one of them. He stared at it, kicking it aside.
He made his way in the opposite direction below the stairwell railing, Saint following right above his head on the upper level. He clenched the half scissor in his hand as he stalked, his eyes hardly able to move from the damage on his lids.
"Yuu," he croaked once more, a sudden clank of metal silencing him. He gazed over blindly at the fireplace, useless in the dark with only one eye working.
Saint took his chance down the stairs, crossing over by the fireplace. He was just about to throw his blade, interrupted by an assault. Two hands grabbed at him, pulling him backward. He cried out, slashing wilding and violently against the woman strangling his limbs. Mika whipped around, a piercing final straggle of some undefinable person who sounded as if they possessed a soul trapped in Hell within them haunting the night.
Anna slammed the boy into the gates of the fireplace, four points of it piercing his torso. He choked out, trying desperately to give final lashes. He glowered at the nun scouring at him, his body jolting sporadically from the last few twitches of life in his body. He drooled a thick wine-red, his dilated gray eyes slowly rolling to a calm position.
His brows relaxed, lids fell low. Not all saints could save, though he tried.
The noise awoke Yuu in his trauma, his soft sobs finally coming to focus in Mika's good ear.
Crying...
"Yuu?" Mika cried out, running past the kitchen's arch to the closet. His cries became clearer, evolving into screams of panic. Yuu heaved, holding the gun in focus as the door revealed the haunting hideous light of the kitchen, the fully-scorched face of the nun horrifying him from over Mika's shoulder.
His heart stopped, seeing Anna before Mika.
"You bitch!" he hollered, firing as many as he could until his fingers hurt. Even he had to look away as he did so. He killed his worst nightmare, the paralyzing burnt face of the spawn of Satan haunting his head for ages. Finally put to rest - and finally deceased.
He heard her body collapse to the floor.
He sobbed, suddenly gasping as Mika fell on top of him. A warmth was rushing onto his clothes, seeping through and streaming down his body. He made a soft noise, staring at the golden hair falling over his chest. He sniffed, turning the blond over.
"Mika?" He gazed down, finding a bullet in the blond's shoulder, his torso, and his arm. They steamed, like craters in his body. "...Mika?"
He shook his beau, pulling him up further on his lap. "Mika," he began to cry. "Mika! MIKA! MIKA! Stop it! Stop it, stop it, stop this, get up; please, I can't - get up! This isn't th... Oh, God, Mika please..."
He tossed his head back, and screamed, his throat ripping with pain.
Sully whipped his head around from helping the little kids in the vehicle, the scream filling the night in a finale. The brown eyes scaled the building, bats flocking away from the noise. He pulled his gun out of his pants.
He ran up the stairs, the wind gusting the door back open to his luck. He raced inside, following the terrifying screams to the closet.
Yuu couldn't breathe, choking on his tears as he pulled Mika up to his lips. He held him close, dropping the gun from his fingers.
"Get up," he yammered, trying to brush the hair out of his face.
The color drained from Sullivan's face as he saw the two in the closet, the dead nun before him. He saw the bullet wounds, the blood sprayed on the walls. Most importantly, he saw Yuu's agony, and his best friend in his arms.
He raised the gun slightly up to Yuu, the green eyes looking up dreadfully at him.
"Let him go," Sully cried, his face dripping tears. Yuu sobbed, hugging Mika closer as he stared at the brunette. His lips quivered, eyes squeezing a stream of tears down his face. "Let him go!"
Yuu had to let him slide off, for he couldn't tolerate pushing him to the ground. Sully slowly picked up the body in disbelief, stifling his cries as the blond's head lolled off to the side, fluffy hair following in a gracious pursuit.
He stared at the boy in the closet, his green eyed pooled with tears, pink and filled with helplessness.
"I trust Yuu... Please, trust him... Too."
It took everything within him to do so.
He extended a hand and pulled Yuu to his feet, taking him by his tiny little fingers and led him out of the closet.
Yuu followed the brunette, hiccuping on his cries. He gazed at the fireplace, seeing Saint's body pierced on the pokes of the gates. His curly hair fell over his mutated features, bloody arms dripping onto the carpet.
"I wanna take care of you, too... Please?"
Yuu's soul was last found in the orphanage, too scarred to be capable of remaining in a human body. His paralyzation was mutual now in terms of the blond. He felt the horrors the blond did. His PTSD. His fears. His triggers. All of the things that made Mika who he was despite how tough he had been and managed to stay brutal throughout his life. He carried fifty-ton burdens and managed to love a boy and keep him alive no matter the treacheries. He was not the bad guy. In fact, Mika had not killed a soul in his lifetime. He'd just held the burdens and souls of the ones that had been killed. He was an angel in the making of a flood of demons... Never to be touched. Too delicate for life. But he'd lived. He'd lived despite being too precious for the Earth. He was an angel held underwater for a moment. His dark pond was now clear.