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Despite the late hour the air was hot, thick, and utterly still. The sliding doors had been opened wide in an attempt to allow in some air, but not even the slightest breeze came to ease the heavy heat draped over the room. Thunder rolled in the distance, dark and menacing with false promises of rain that would not come.
Mokkun's tail twitched and he shifted again where he lay next to Masahiro on the futon. He was drifting in and out of a restless doze as real sleep eluded him. He was just about to drop off again, when a quiet moan caught his attention and he slowly opened one eye to glance at the sleeping boy next to him.
Pale moonlight fell through the open doors, but it was an eerie light and not the usual comforting white glow that Touda loved so much. Shadows clawed at the edges with their sickly gray, and Touda suddenly knew that something was amiss. Another moan brought him standing close to Masahiro's face, alarmed. Fine beads of sweat lined the boy's forehead, his eyes rolling wildly under closed lids. Damp strands of hair stuck to his face and his fist clenched and unclenched, white knuckles sticking out painfully.
Worried, Mokkun reached out to touch Masahiro's hand with his paw, but he got no reaction whatsoever. He called out the boy's name, quiet at first then more urgently. When nothing happened, he leaned in and nudged Masahiro's cheek with his nose while still speaking Masahiro's name. Nothing.
He made an impatient noise in the back of his throat, drew back a bit and, with a flash, shifted into his real form. Kneeling carefully next to Masahiro, Touda placed his big hands on the boy's shoulder and back and shook him gently. When still nothing happened, he did it with more insistence. However, Masahiro did not wake up. Instead, silent tears began to leak from the corners of his eyes and left glittering tracks down his cheeks. His body began to tremble and again an agonizing moan escaped his lips.
Dread filled Touda, clenching his chest with iron fists. It was quickly followed by rage at his helplessness and he wanted to scream in frustration. Masahiro was hurting and there didn't seem to be anything that he could do about it. Why wouldn't the boy wake up?
It was then that he noticed it, a strange layer of viscous air that seemed to envelop Masahiro. Slick and gluey at the same time, it slid around Touda's fingers where they lay on Masahiro's shoulder. His first reaction was to snatch his hand back, but instead he concentrated on the feeling of it on his skin, and suddenly it began to shimmer faintly in a dirty green glow. Remnants of a curse.
Touda bit his lip. The demon they had vanquished a couple of hours ago must have struck the curse at Masahiro with his last dying breath without their notice. Not even Seimei seemed to have caught onto it.
Touda frowned. That was odd. Maybe he ought to go question the old man about it. However, a hoked sob changed his mind immediately. Seimei could wait; he had to help Masahiro first. But how? Seimei would certainly know the answer, but somehow Touda felt that he needed to find a way himself. They couldn't always rely on Seimei. He did not want to always depend on the old man.
A memory skittered along the edges of his awareness, barely out of reach. Something about the situation felt familiar, but Touda just couldn't point his finger on it. The feel of the night, Masahiro, the nightmare… And suddenly he remembered.
***
Touda materialized reluctantly, beckoned by Seimei's call.
"What is it, Seimei?" It was late, and Touda wasn't aware of any pressing matters that would have needed their attention right now. It was a hot summer night and the air was hard to breathe.
"I need your help with something, Guren." Seimei's voice was gently chiding, but it held no impatience, no anger, and Touda felt immediately humbled. He followed Seimei wordlessly through the hallways until the old man stopped in front of a door. Touda suddenly realized that they had arrived at Masahiro's room. A flash of anxiousness stabbed his gut and he blurted out, "Is there something wrong with Masahiro?"
Seimei gave a small smile and simply motioned for Touda to follow him into the room. Inside, Seimei went down on his knees by Masahiro's futon while gesturing in another direction of the room. "Guren, please sit down over there, your back to the wall." Touda had no idea what the strange instructions meant, but he obeyed without so much as a word. Curiously, he watched as Seimei scooped the apparently sleeping little boy up into his arms and walked over to where Touda sat. He knelt again and placed the bundle of blankets and warm child in Touda's arms. Only now did Touda notice the small whimpers, the soft sobs, and the hitching breaths coming from Masahiro. He looked at the little face, the round cheeks that were wet with tears, and instinctively his arms tightened, the need to protect strong and overwhelming. "What's going on, Seimei?"
The old man looked at him calmly. "Masahiro is trapped in a nightmare. He just won't wake up. You need to go find him."
"But how…" Touda wasn't able to finish his question for Seimei placed his hand on Touda's forehead. The fingers were cool on his skin and Touda felt his eyes grow heavy and slip closed as he was dragged into sleep by an unseen force.
Opening his eyes didn't change anything at first, but then he slowly became aware of shades and varying hues in the darkness that surrounded him. Dark green and purple shadows, midnight blue and various tones of gray swirled around him but didn't make any sense. The ground under his feet was soft and yielding; he could not see it, though. He made a tentative step. The ground held, so walking would not be a problem. Now he just needed to figure out where to go. He closed his eyes and listened into the dark. Again, it took a while, but eventually his ears picked up a sound, the soft crying of a child somewhere in the distance.
Trusting his instincts, Touda began to walk in the direction of the crying. As he got closer, the cries became more distinguished. The heartbreaking sobs cut deeply into Touda, and the need to find Masahiro grew more urgent until it owned him completely, shutting out any other emotion. He quickened his pace and realized that the more certain steps he took, the easier it became to advance in the cloudy darkness.
Soon, and yet it seemed like an eternity, he arrived at the spot where he knew Masahiro had to be, but he couldn't see him anywhere. He tried to cut through the darkness with his eyes, but to no avail. He called out Masahiro's name, and the crying did stop for a moment before sliding back into quiet keening.
Touda cursed silently. If only he could find a way to see where Masahiro was.
He almost laughed when the solution finally occurred to him. How dense could he be? Confident now, he stretched to full height, arms extended to both sides, and called his flame.
It came to him, red glowing fire slicing through the dark. The shadows recoiled under the assault, retreating into corners unseen. Masahiro turned his head where he sat a couple of steps away, crying forgotten and only leaving soft hiccups in its wake as he stared at Touda in surprise. Masahiro's eyes, huge and shining in the flickering light that wound around Touda's arm lost their fear and despair the moment they fell on Touda. They filled with relief and so much trust that Touda's breath caught for a second in shock. The little boy scrambled to his feet, but tripped and fell in his haste to reach his savior. However, he was back on his feet in no time, and Touda had barely the chance to get down on one knee before he found himself with an arm full of child clinging to him and getting tears and snot all over his chest.
It was one of the most wonderful things he had ever experienced. Touda bent his head and buried his nose in Masahiro's silky hair. In that moment, he knew with absolute certainty that he would do anything for this boy, even giving his own life.
He released the flame and it vanished with a soft hiss, but the warm comforting light remained. The dark had lost the battle. With a smile, Touda carefully stood, his arms holding Masahiro securely to his body. He cast a last glance at the now peacefully sleeping child, then closed his eyes and gave himself to the pull of reality that drew him back to the surface.
***
"Noooo!" The hoarse scream tore Touda from his memories and back to the matter at hand. Masahiro was thrashing wildly next to him. He calmed a bit when Touda touched his shoulder, but only to lapse into shuddering sobs. Touda knew what to do now, though. Carefully, he slipped under the covers and stretched out on the futon, wrapping his arms around Masahiro's shivering body and molding himself to the boy's back to get as much contact as possible. He closed his eyes and willed himself to sleep.
It was definitely different from last time. Touda opened his eyes to a full landscape although certainly not one he would have chosen to visit. Right out of a nightmare was the most apt description, and sadly appropriate in this case. Black-brown soil, deeply furrowed as if sliced by giant claws, stretched as far as the eye could see. Only a few jagged rock formations and skeleton trees that stretched their twisted branches into the sky like boney fingers broke the monotony.
A scorching, dry wind blew around him and brought with it the acrid smell of smoke, death, and burning flesh. It tasted like ashes in his mouth and every breath seemed to require an effort. Menace filled the air, fear and despair weighed down on the barren lands like a suffocating blanket. There was no sign of life.
There was no sign of Masahiro.
Touda had no idea how he was supposed to find the boy, and so he did the only thing he could think of. He concentrated his entire being on Masahiro, his smile, his laugh, the sound of his voice calling Touda's name, the feel of his arms as he cradled Touda in Mokkun's form to his chest, and the unconditioned trust in his eyes that still stole Touda's breath every time he was faced with it. Then he began to walk.
Minutes, hours, Touda didn't know how much time passed, but he never wavered in his steps. A couple of times he thought he could hear growling in the distance, and there were faint tremors running through the ground under his feet, but he still couldn't see anyone or anything. Just the feeling of danger, of death and destruction became stronger and stronger. Then he found the first corpse. Glassy eyes stared up at him from a face twisted in horror. Although there were no outer wounds, the body lay strangely cricked. Fear constricted Touda's throat and he started running.
More and more bodies littered the ground. Once or twice Touda thought he saw a familiar face, but the panic drove him forward. Suddenly, the ground in front of him rose to something akin to an earth wall. In a few steps Touda climbed it and what he saw then made what lay behind him look like a garden full of roses.
Before him, the terrain dipped into a shallow decline before it abruptly ended in what looked like a near vertical cliff. Touda realized that the plane he had been walking across was on a high plateau far, far above the valley down below. Smoke rose from the depth in greasy black clouds; the valley burned. As far as Touda could see there were fires, some glowing, smoldering, others ablaze with flames. He was too high up, but he could still almost hear the screams of the people.
What was right in front of him didn't prove to be any more comforting. Corpses covered the ground everywhere, worse than before, and every single face held that expression of blank horror. This time Touda was sure that he recognized some of the bodies. People from the palace, people he had seen in the city. His gaze swept to the side, along length of the drop until he finally found what he'd been searching. There, at the edge of the cliff stood Masahiro. And in front of him, partly hidden in a particularly thick cloud of smoke, hovered the demon they had hunted the night before. Only it was many times bigger and nastier looking.
Touda could feel the waves of power that emanated from the demon – despair, fear, and unspeakable terror. They rolled over him, and he dropped to his knees, though his hands over his face could not block out the blackness that engulfed his heart and squeezed, threatening to drain every ounce of life from him. He would die here and now, unable to help Masahiro, failing to save what was most important to him in this world. Masahiro…
The thought blossomed inside him, its soft white petals gently unfolding, growing and expanding until it filled him. He held onto it, kindled it until all the darkness was gone. Touda stood and began to file his way around the bodies toward Masahiro as quickly as he could.
His heart dropped again when he discovered Genbu among the dead, then Suzaku, and even Masahiro's father. But he pushed the sadness aside, hanging onto the thought of helping Masahiro. He was now close enough to see that Masahiro was bound by tendrils of the same green glow that had covered the boy's body earlier. They disappeared into the cloud that held the demon.
He was also able to hear Masahiro's pleading now, the wrecked sobs, the screams and the cruel laughter of the demon. It broke his heart, and he desperately wanted to call out to reassure Masahiro. But the demon seemed focused on the boy for the moment and still unaware of Touda's approach; he knew that he had to keep the advantage on his side.
He advanced further, a bit slower now, but stopped again when he saw what lay at Masahiro's feet; there was still no blood, but Seimei's and Akiko's bodies looked as broken as they could get. A little bit to the side he could see a flash of long ice-blue hair. Seiryuu. Touda barely held back a scream.
His eyes went wide, however, when he saw the spot of red just behind Seiryuu. His own body was sprawled on the ground, rigid, lifeless.
It was impossible. He was right here. And like a flash of lightning realization hit home, as the extent of the illusion occurred to him. Touda had wondered how the demon had managed to grow this big and powerful. Now he knew. The demon had found the one way to defeat Masahiro; he had taken everything away that Masahiro loved and cared about. Now there was no one left to defend, nothing worth fighting for. And the demon feasted on the pain and despair.
Blinding rage rose inside Touda. How dare someone hurt Masahiro like this. Extending his arms he summoned the hellfire and lashed out at the enemy. The demon roared as the cloud around him exploded in red-hot fire. The green strings recoiled and disappeared. Masahiro's head whipped around, surprise and incredulity written all over his soot and tear stained face. "Guren?" he croaked, voice raw and barely audible. "But how…?" They both glanced over to where Touda's corpse lay, but Touda quickly reached out and turned Masahiro's face back to look at him.
"Masahiro. I'm here. I'm real." He could see the hope spread over Masahiro's features, although a sliver of doubt stubbornly remained. Touda planted his hands firmly on Masahiro's shoulders. "I'm here. No one is dead; everything else is just an illusion." he repeated. Masahiro placed one hand atop Touda's and nodded, hope visibly transforming into determination. Slight movements caught Touda's attention from the corner of his eye. He turned, and Masahiro with him, just in time to see Touda's supposedly dead body pale and become transparent before it vanished completely.
They didn't have time to wonder. In front of them the demon reared, growling and spitting fire. Its ugly head shot in their direction and Touda barely managed to jump back and out of reach with Masahiro in his arms. The demon laughed. "You didn't think it was that easy, did you?" it hissed.
"Masahiro. You have to bind and vanquish him. Here and now." Touda urged, "I will help and protect you, but you have to do it."
Masahiro swayed on his feet when Touda put him down, but he nodded. Giving Masahiro's shoulders a last squeeze, Touda jumped between the demon and the boy to give him the time to prepare and summon his power. He didn't need to look back to see what Masahiro was doing. He knew it. He could feel the power gathering, could imagine the blue white glow that framed Masahiro's form and the gentle wind that ruffled his hair and made his robe flutter. He could hear the quiet chanting, recognizing every word.
He chased back the demon with another bout of fire, just enough for Masahiro to finish. The moment the last syllable left Masahiro's mouth, Touda leaped out of the way. A beam of blinding white light shot past him and engulfed the demon who screeched with fury, but didn't stand a chance. With an earsplitting wail it disappeared and with it all the fires and bodies, and finally their entire surroundings.
Touda caught Masahiro before he fell, holding the boy securely in his embrace. All that remained was the two of them, surrounded by warm velvety darkness that wrapped around them like a protective cocoon. Masahiro's head rested on Touda's shoulder and he could feel the boy's gentle breaths against his neck. "It's over, isn't it?"
"Yes, Masahiro, it's over."
"Promise you'll always be by my side."
Touda didn't have to think, didn't hesitate. "I promise."
"Then we can wake up now, right?"
"Yes, we can wake up now."
And together they rose to the surface.
Touda opened his eyes. The room was filled with the hazy glow of the moon and a faint breeze whispered through the open doors. He glanced down at the boy still firmly wrapped in his arms and was met with clear, open eyes. He blinked and Masahiro gave him a brief smile before closing his eyes. No more words were needed.
Masahiro buried his face against Touda's chest and soon his breathing evened out. Touda tightened his arms just a bit and closed his eyes as well. He knew where he belonged.
***
In his room, Abe no Seimei nodded to himself and smiled.