Chapter Text
The ride to base ended up being smoother than anyone in that car expected. They had been notified to not drive on the roads around the plains a few days prior to when troops were sent out due to the slippery roads, but he didn't really care anyway. All of the army vehicles were made to withstand the Xenokunian weather, so it's not like the thing couldn't handle it.
“Did they end up taking down the thing?” Shinri would ask.
“Nah.” The driver would respond, “You two were actually pretty lucky to have fled the scene when you did. From what a few of my colleagues told me it got nasty. Like, I’m telling you. It was really bad.”
“Really?” Hakka would question softly, his lavender blue eyes shooting wide with fear and intrigue. Shinri would soon follow suit.
“Yep.” The driver would state, “From what I’ve been told, the bitch killed a couple hundred people from that entire fleet. Enforcement had to come in to contain the thing and it’s sitting somewhere in home base. I hope they're testing it, if they find out what kills a corruption beast then this war would be over sooner.”
Hakka and Shinri would turn to each other in disbelief over their choices. Maybe it was the fact that Shinri was sitting next to the man that he alone saved, or the fact that he was getting a ride home with little to no injuries. Maybe it was Hakka giving him his very same look back at him almost like a mirror. But considering what would play out later in time, Shinri would have been hit with the consequences of his actions all at once. Hakka. No, he wouldn't have survived if his instinct to care for others didn't overwhelm him. All of those emotions waxing over him all at once.
“Just…letting you know. You both might get in big trouble for straying from the mission.” The driver would note, “I’m not saying you will but. You know. There's a chance so…just be ready if it happens.”
Hakka would lounge back into the leather seat just a bit more, hoping that the warmth from his back would warm him up just enough to keep him toasty.
Shinri would take his coat that he was holding in between his arms and raise an arm towards Hakka's locked position.
“Take it.” He would say, “You're cold, aren't you?”
Hakka didn't choose to retaliate or apologize. He graced his hand onto his jacket and coddled around the fabric like it was a blanket. Resting his head onto the fluffy fur hood as he gazed at the white window of the van. Shinri couldn't help but just sit there and smile.
As if the intensity of battle wasn't enough, the air of arriving home was incredibly dense with confusion and envy. Unparalleled to whenever either of them would return home.
The duo would come home to a rise of suspicious stares from their colleagues as they both would settle down in their quarters for what seemed like the first time in forever. Denounced to them, they had lived in the same barrack, not too far from each other. It had only hit them as soon as they decided to leave their things. The war has made people so focused on their desires to succeed and survive that it has barely made them notice each other from across the same sleeping quarters.
“I didn't think we would be in the same sleeping quarters, huh!” Hakka would reply with a sheepish laugh, “Guess we must have been pretty focused.”
Shinri would respond with a soft “Yeah.” and laugh it off as he began to settle down for a bit.
“Did you really mean it when you said you would train me?” Hakka would question with a deep sincerity in his voice. His eyes turned to Shinri with a wide eye look, “I know we had to get out of that situation fast and I barely know you. But…It’s just something I wanted to ask.”
“Hakka..” Shinri would respond, walking on over to him. “I want you to be a successful soldier just like everyone else. A strong man. Nobody was born knowing how to survive against a giant corruption beast in the mists of a harsh Xenokunian winter. Not even me, and that's just life for you. When I picked you up, I wasn't kidding. If the generals and commanders will not shape you up then by god I will.”
Shinri would lend his pinky out to Hakka and give him an honest look in his eyes, “Because what I said back in the cabin was true. I can't let young fighters die. That is my duty.”
Hakka would stand there for a minute. He’d gaze into Shinri’s eyes, brimming to the edge of sincerity and honesty. A gaze that resembles one of a mentor that wishes to spread the wings of the fallen, just like he had seen when he had just woken up from his slumber. He was real, in a way he hadn't known in ages. And as he gazed onto his pinky, he knew what he had to do. He would clench onto it and feel the overbearing weight of trust flow within him.
Even if he wasn't looking at it at the moment, Shinri had that soft smile on his face as the cold air pushed his heartwarming sigh onto his body.
The door would open to the cabin slightly after. The boys’ heads would turn towards the sudden noise of the door handle turning and opening.
“Sorry to break in on your return home Shinri but, the higher ups want a word with you so…”
Hakka would give Shinri a terrified look as his head swiftly turned back to him. But Shinri stayed neutral as he walked towards the door, unafraid of the consequences of what might come. However, before he could exit the room, he turned his head towards Hakka's direction and gave a soft reassuring smile. A mutual agreement that whatever happens, he would be okay.
Hakka would stare out into the empty room lined with beds for as long as the eye could see. The dark and grey room only livened up by a few knick-knacks brought on by people who were drafted in or were hired being the only sense of personality in the entire room. Hell, in the entire area for that matter. The small details that make a new area feel like home. It was oddly comforting. At least just him in this room. Not like there was any other place he could go too without taking it slow.
Pouncing onto the bed, feeling the mattress lightly sink into his body and the warmth of the sheets placing their arms around his body. Hakka would lie himself down on the bed for a bit. A comfort he hasn’t felt since he got back. Even if it was just for a small while, he needed to rummage around in his thoughts. He’d stare out of the small window above the bed across from him. It was as if a bright gray light was staring at him in the face.
As his eyes began to flutter off, he slowly began to faintly see a tiny dark silhouette that sat outside the window. His eyes fluttered open again to make out what the thing was.
It was…a crow. Fully dark, as if it was engulfed by shadow itself.
Hakka’s eyes went from a small squint to a distressed stare once more as he would rise up from the mattress.
The crow would begin to circle around the room as it had been there all along. Its shape mutilating and breaking off into multiple crows as he felt a slight gust of wind hit him from the outside. But the truth was the door was shut long ago, and the wind had only passed when they were out on the field. Something was haunting him. Someone he is all too familiar with.
“Oh? It looks like someone needs a bit of rest.”
Hakka would even try to look at the thing, staring down at the mattress and trying his hardest to take deep breaths. Maybe if he would calm himself down then the beast would go away.
“Not even daring to look me in the eye hmm? Since when did you become so brave and daring?”
Hakka starts to clench onto the sheets of the bed as he starts to tremble. He can't ruin such a moment. Not now. Please don't start now. Please.
“You let one heartfelt moment with a total stranger decide you have the gall to stand up against a god? Trivial as always.”
…
“Your sudden change in mood can't fool me. I know you all too well. So how about you cut it with the act and look me in the eye.”
“Okay! Fine! What the hell! If you wanted to torture me as I’m trying to rest be my guest! I can't have any sense of alone time with you around then!”
The room was even more quiet than before. Hakka, exasperated from his declaration, would stare at the beast looking him in the eye.
A distorted version of himself, in voice and in stature. Completely enveloped in black. Shadow like, just like the crow. The only way you can tell it wasn't Hakka was the red, tengu-like half mask covering its face. Its piercing blue eyes stared directly into the very pit of Hakka’s soul.
Its head would tilt upwards, elegantly and maliciously. Behind the mask, you could see its eyes squint with an air of content.
“I’m glad we could come to an agreement. Don't you agree?” It would state.
“What the hell do you want now? Huh?” Hakka would question, his voice boiling up with fear and hatred all at once.
“I just came to check in with you, that's all.” It would rebuttle, “I can't be having my vessel just die in the snow like that, can I? But a free body would be very nice.”
Hakka could only watch as this beast would joke and cackle about his near death experience. Every line he spoke made him want to choke him out, but he knows very well the consequences of defying his rule. It’s a dangerous game when sharing a body with a tengu.
“Shinri is his name, isn't it?” The beast would respond behind his left ear, “Huh. You're lucky he managed to save you there. Maybe my judgment was misplaced. Maybe there is good in human kind after all.”
Every word it said slimed down his ear and into the very pit of his stomach. It’s indication and malice should have only felt normal at this point, but he cannot shake the pure rage the tengu makes him feel whenever he makes his presence known.
The tengu would let out a chuckle as a slight wind pushed him towards his other ear, “Who am I kidding. If I chose you as my vessel then that means there’s something clearly wrong with humanity.”
“Why are you here?” Hakka would ask with a firm affirmation in his voice, “I just want to rest. I just got out of a freaking snow storm, and now you decide to bother me? What the hell else do you have to say other than giving a snarky remark about how I suck.”
“It’s nothing really.” It would reply, “I just wanted to congratulate you on finally making a friend in your new home. Quite the social butterfly I chose. Not like you had a choice to not befriend him, he only ever saved your life from great danger. How courageous to save the weak and frail.”
The tengu would wrap around the walls of the corridors like a looming shadow. Only growing bigger like an ominous force that couldn't be harmed, only obeyed.
It would create a long shadow casting over the bed and the window across from him, the tengu mask barely visible as his piercing blue eyes stared back into him, “But don't lose sight of what's important. You are my vessel, I chose you to serve me alone. You are here for a reason, I need my nourishment to grow stronger so that you can be strong too. And you will not detach me from my sources because you chose to befriend a nice stranger.”
The tengu would lean in swiftly into Hakka’s ear.
“Don't get so attached to trivial things. Otherwise I’ll have to take matters into my own hands. You don’t want me to teach you a lesson in betrayal.”
The door would swing open once more as the cold air began to billow into the room and snap Hakka out of his trance. Shinri would almost collapse before taking a step into the barren barracks, alerting Hakka in the process. His eyes would gaze at Hakka from across the room in a shocked but softened expression and his smile grew wide at the sight of Hakka.