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“I never should have saved you from the forest.”
He felt something snap. Iwaizumi flung himself down at Oikawa, throwing away all logic and reason out the door as pure rage coursed through him like fire. He threw his arms out to strangle Oikawa by the neck, his broadsword abandoned at his feet.
This is who he truly is, a monster.
Kenma’s voice rang in his ears, the vision playing over and over again in his mind. Of corpses and darkness, of blood and red skies, of Oikawa seated on his throne on top of all the ruin, Iwaizumi at his feet, kneeling and chained. Oikawa would take away everything Iwaizumi loved—except him.
His fingertips grazed the pale skin of Oikawa when he was suddenly grabbed from behind, hands grappling at his body with a coldness like no other. He looked up to find bones and bones and bones, the skeletons that made up just part of Oikawa’s army holding him back from their king. Their king. Not his.
He hung suspended in air, his arms pinned behind his back and his face just inches away from Oikawa’s. Oikawa’s eyes were wide with surprise, as though he wasn't expecting Iwaizumi to attack. And Iwaizumi was struck so hard by those eyes because they held a vulnerability that he had only seen, that Oikawa had showed only to him and no other.
Hope and sadness filled him. Maybe he could save him. Maybe he could save his best friend.
“Oikawa.”
The demon king was breathing hard, his face covered in grime and blood, but his gaze never wavered from Iwaizumi’s face.
“Oikawa,” Iwaizumi said. “Why are you doing this? What changed you?”
There was a pause before Oikawa spoke. “I-I am the most powerful being in this realm,” he gritted out, his voice cracking on the first syllable. “And yet, I couldn't save my family, I couldn't save the people who made me who I initially was. And now that they're gone, so is my old self.” He moved to stand, but his knee gave out, his leg twisted at a wrong angle. His eyes shut and he hissed between his teeth, his mouth set into a smile that was bitter and full of hate. “Funny how you used our secret against me.”
He was suddenly in Iwaizumi’s face, blood red eyes boring into green ones. His mouth was still in the frightening smile that made Iwaizumi’s skin crawl. Then and there, he looked no less than the demon he truly was. “Why am I doing this, Iwaizumi? You dare ask me that?” Oikawa’s hand shot out, catching him by the throat. He pulled Iwaizumi closer. “I bared to you my secrets. I showed you things that I never should have showed anyone. You know everything about me!” He was shouting now, his face wild with rage. “So you should know, that all of this, is because of what your kind has done to my family. Of what you humans have done to me. AND THERE IS NOTHING LEFT THAT I HAVE!!!”
His shout echoed across the battlefield, silencing the sounds of war and fighting. Flames had erupted around them, a circle of fire enclosing them from the rest of the world. For a moment, it was just them two, like it had always been since that fateful day in the forest. How Time can change the course of a friendship with just one bad decision.
“You have me.”
Oikawa’s angry expression cracked a little. “What?”
“You have me,” Iwaizumi repeated, staring at Oikawa with an intensity that he felt even in his bones. His voice was barely a whisper when he said, “You've always had me.”
There was a terrible silence that followed, one that made Iwaizumi question if he said the right thing or not. Oikawa showed no signs of doing anything. He lay there looking at Iwaizumi with nothing but wide eyes and a mouth dripping blood.
All that passed before Iwaizumi felt the hold of the skeletons loosen and disappear, making him fall forward. Oikawa thrust his hand out, and Iwaizumi thought he was going to strangle him again, but instead he felt the funny feeling of Oikawa’s power being used on him, pushing him upright and back on his feet. Iwaizumi watched as Oikawa pushed himself in a sitting position, leaning back on his arm as he carefully tried to not move his injured knee. Iwaizumi felt a pang of guilt. He never should've used Oikawa’s weakness against him. Even after all this, he was still the kind and gentle demon who took him from the forest and became his friend.
Oikawa looked up, his eyes already losing their eerie glow, and smiled. Iwaizumi’s breath caught. It looked pained, his face was bloodied, and there was a large bruise forming on his jaw, but he was smiling.
Oikawa brought up his hand, offering it to Iwaizumi. “Join me.”
Iwaizumi felt all the blood drain from his face. No. Gods no.
“I need you by my side, Iwa.”
The whole world was shaking. Or maybe it was just him. Iwaizumi couldn't see or hear anything. He was in denial, a great load of denial, and yet this was what was happening, this was what Oikawa had become. He was no longer who he was. He was truly the Demon King now.
Iwaizumi blinked through tears. When had he started crying? “I-I can't.”
Oikawa’s smile fell. He lowered his hand. “Iwa-chan?”
No, Oikawa. Don't say my name like that. Don't act like what you were before when you're now a completely different being.
“I can't.”
His eyes burned. At the unshed tears and at the flames rising higher and higher around them. He had lost. He knew he had lost. He lost him.
He knew there was no other way, no other choice. His sword lay behind him.
“I trusted you, Iwaizumi.” Oikawa’s voice was nothing normal now, hundreds of other different voices joining in. Tiny fires had erupted on random areas on the ground. Smoke rose from Oikawa’s clothes, and angry red welts started forming on his skin. He was crying blood, the trails leaving burns on his cheeks. His head snapped up to look at Iwaizumi, his eyes now nothing but black and void and darkness. “I treated you more than a friend, and more than a brother. You were the next to my family—no, even more than that.” His face was full of anguish. “I loved you.”
I loved you, too.
“I'm sorry, Oikawa.”
He was steps away from his weapon. He could make it. He could reach it.
“No, you can't.”
He was suddenly flung away from his sword and hung in the air, Oikawa’s power holding him. Oikawa had always had power, and now he got to taste how powerful it really was.
“Tut-tut,” Oikawa began, his face hideously stretched into that cruel smile. Gone was the Oikawa Iwaizumi knew, gone was the vulnerability, the remorse, the kindness. Gone. Because he failed to save him even from the beginning. “I thought you were smarter than this. But then I'll always be one step ahead of you.” He laughed bitterly. “You could've stayed, Iwaizumi. We could've ruled the world together. Who cares about marrying? I wouldn't get any stronger than having you all the time.” An agonizing pain pulled at his chest, Oikawa drawing him down until he was face to face with him. His smile widened. “And I'll always have you.”
There was nothing left Iwaizumi could do as his best friend pushed him to the ground, through the soil and the wards of the demon kingdom, where he would meet him again after he had conquered the world.