Chapter Text
It was dead in the middle of the night in Sengoku Japan, only the freezing howls of the winter breeze should’ve been present in the outskirts of town and yet in one particular secluded forest, small pairs of paws can be heard sprinting across the snowy path.
Short heaves of pants accompanying each step felt heavier than the next as an orange kitsune fox, Mysta as he calls himself, shivers at the next blow of the cold wind. His skin almost jumps out of his fur as he hears deafening howls from the distance, the sounds of angered spirit wolves instilling more fear in his tiny vessel.
'I just wanted something to eat, I didn’t know the shrine was still occupied!', The fox exclaimed in his thoughts. It was a cold winter night, and as a master-less kitsune, Mysta had to seek all the ways to feed himself. He doesn’t have a shrine to get food offerings from, so he thought snatching a bun in a supposed abandoned shrine would be fine.
It was, until several wolf spirits started ambushing him for trespassing their master’s territory. Hence why Mysta was in this predicament right now, running away from angry wolves who is eager to gang up on him and presumably eat and kill him in the process.
And as the rules go for familiars like him, they needed a master to come back from the dead. He’s worked so hard to survive without a master this far, he can’t fall and give up.
So he kept on running, giving his hind legs one more push to boost himself through the woods. His speed felt like it made the cold pass through him easily, sooner or later he knew that his energy will be completely empty and it’s all done for him. His vision starts to fill with dread as he encounters a huge dead end; a huge stone wall almost 4 meters tall with both ends seemingly unending.
With hope all lost, Mysta couldn’t think of anything but cower against the very stone wall that stopped him from his tracks. He was whimpering, as if calling for help. 'Heavens please, if you’re here. I f you can hear me, for the love of God, help me!!', The fox prays in his thoughts, shivering not because of the cold, but because of the nearing sounds of growling in the woods. The wolves are here, and he was a goner.
Suddenly, there were whimpers and screams…. and then silence..
“Huh..?” Mysta kept his eyes closed, still afraid despite the silence. Was he safe? Or was there a more threatening danger coming to get him?
As if to answer his question, he hears footsteps in the snow nearby, but they were different.. The sound was soft and slow, as if the owner was having a nice little stroll. The kitsune, still with his eyes shut, lifted his head when he hears the footsteps stop.
“You can open your eyes now, young one.” Oh. What a nice voice.
The young fox spirit finally opens his eyes and he was met by a tall young man, his black haori lazily hanging on his shoulders and deep, long black hair with red highlights let loose on top of it. His eyes were akin to sand, it was a light shade of gold, it was striking and yet tranquil at the same time. However, it only took another second for Mysta to realize that it wasn’t the Heavens that answered his prayer for the man in front of him wasn’t a God,
But a Demon. A strikingly good looking one at that.
The raven haired mad crouches to his level, offering his hand to the fox. “You look awfully battered, my boy.. You can come with me and I can get you taken care of. What do you say?”
Mysta couldn’t understand why, but there is something with the man that felt so enticing to him. It was like he was being lured into a trap and he can’t do anything but succumb to the demon’s words with no regrets. Before he could even think, his small paw was already clinging to the man’s pale hand. 'Oh but his hand is so warm.'
'Well that was a nice dream..'
Mysta slowly opens his eyes as the warm light from the other side of his screen door penetrates his room. His hand instinctively slides beside him, hoping to find something that isn’t a cold vacant space in the futon. His expression quickly falls to see exactly what he didn’t want to find.
He reminisces about his dream. It had been quite a long while ever since he first met his master. And it’s almost a decade since they’ve formed a soul bond too. Things have changed from then, but Mysta continues to firmly stay beside his soulmate’s side, determined to keep his end of the oath they sworn on.
The moment the kitsune leaves his bedroom, he’s already met by the few people serving the Akuma stronghold. Smiles and greetings constantly given to him that he can only respond to with a small nod and a weak smile. He felt like he was being rude, but he really didn’t care if others think he’s being awfully aloof at the time. He only wanted one thing.
Mysta continued to scan around the castle trying to find its master, only to resort having to ask the other servants roaming around.
He finds Vox sitting comfortably in the yard and enjoying a seemingly fierce battle of shogi with his right hand man, Oni Giri. It looked so intense that the voice demon didn’t even notice Mysta walk up to him until he sat beside him. Vox slightly jumps at the sudden weight pressed against him, but he doesn’t bother looking at the new company and instead continues to pick up a shogi piece and finishes his turn before speaking,
“You startled me. You didn’t even say anything before occupying such a huge space beside me.”
“Why didn’t you wake me up?”
The demon sighs, his expression completely still, “As far as I am aware, it’s not my obligation to wake you up. Plus, even if I do, all you do is whine and cling to me preventing me to get up from bed anyway. It really affects my productivity, you know.”
Mysta frowns. His soulmate’s words cutting into his already deep wound of insecurities. When did this start, he asks himself. The more he clung to Vox, the more the man pushes him away. It was as if the kitsune is more of a useless baggage than anything else Vox claimed he was. Fair enough, Mysta has never been the most useful familiar for his master. He was a weak spirit in the beginning, and all he had going for him was his keen sense of smell and mediocre detective skills but even so, the brunette didn’t think this warranted such behavior from Vox.
“Productivity? All you do is laze around and flirt with other women in the castle.” The kitsune responded with a scoff.
Back then, the demon would always shower him with praises whenever he needed them. He even went as far as to give him kisses and headpats, all of which Mysta really adored to the point that he’ll do everything to grab Vox’s attention. His master made him feel like he was the most special familiar in this world. They were soulmates, Vox established that himself and Mysta vowed to follow the voice demon wherever he goes and stay by his side forever.
His concentration unbroken, Vox rests his hand against his lips, eyes not leaving the wooden board in front of him. “That’s all you see, Mysta. You don’t know half of what I do for the clan.”
So how did it come to this? Since when did those pale gold eyes look at him as if he was a hollow husk of a decoration? Since when did those pale hands stop feeling warm against his skin enough to make Mysta feel like he was burning? When did his teasing full of adoration start to feel like it was to scorn and mock him? When did Vox stop acting like he loved Mysta?
‘What am I supposed to do to bring everything back to normal?’
Seeing the building tension between the two lovers, Oni Giri snaps “Well then milord! I still have matters to attend to, I have to go.” The red oni kneels and bows before Vox before hopping off the ground out of the castle walls.
Silence fills the morning air as the two men sit together seemingly united in not uttering a single word. A few chirps of birds pass by is when Vox sighs and finally opens his mouth, slowly standing up and looks back at Mysta.
“Meet me outside the castle tonight. I have something to tell you.”
The kitsune could only look at his master’s back as he watches him walk away into the halls of the castle. He stares, hoping somehow Vox takes a second to look back and see his expression right now and feel all the guilt and regret Mysta wants him to experience, but to no avail, the voice demon continued to walk further away, fully disappearing within the brunette’s sight.
The night finally came though Mysta wasn’t exactly ecstatic about it. If anything, his dread felt heavier as he watched the sun set in the horizon. Everything around him suddenly felt silent, and yet his ears were ringing and the unnerving noise didn’t seem to go away no matter what he did. The dinner with the clan was a short distraction sure, but it wasn’t enough to make him fully forget of what was to come.
‘Maybe it won’t be too bad? I might be just overthinking stuff, yes- Vox can be brutal when it comes to teasing but he always would compensate with sweet actions and apologize later. He isn’t that cruel. Who knows, this might be just his way to make up for the times he’s been busy with his responsibilities.’
More conflicting thoughts manage to filter through the kitsune’s mind and his agitation never felt higher. At this point, he just wanted this to end and get over with but at the same time, his anxiety isn’t letting him live it down.
As the stronghold finally began to take a rest and fully withdraw for the day, Mysta went on his way to meet with his master outside of the castle grounds. He grasps over his haori as he scans around the area and stops when he finally sees the familiar flowery patterned black haori.
”Vox-” He calls out, almost flinching when the demon turns to him with an expressionless face.
Vox let out a heavy sigh, and finally speaks after a long pause.
“Mysta, I don’t think I can continue being lovers any longer.”
Crack
“I.. I just don’t feel the same way as before anymore. It’s harsh, but I can’t keep lying to myself and to you either..”
Crack
“We can still be equals. Our pact is set in stone and can never be broken, however, I think it’s best that we stay as friends. It’s for our sake. I don’t want to be hurting you like this eith-- Mysta-?”
CRASH!
Before Vox could continue, Mysta drops onto the ground. The crushing weight in his heart almost overbearing to deal with. The ringing sound was getting louder, almost like screech as if someone’s nails were scraping against wooden boards. Suddenly, he was huffing, almost out of breath even as he tried to clutch on his chest and control his breathing. He looks up at Vox but all he could make out of his figure was a blurry blob. His face felt colder and wetter. That was when the brunette realizes he was tearing up.
“How…” He hiccups, trying to fight the urge to sob all over the snowy pavement. “How can you just stop like that…? After everything.. all those things we’ve been through… How can those feelings just disappear Vox..?”
Vox stays silent, expression unchanging. A flash of red enters Mysta’s vision as he stands up and shakily grabs the demon by his haori. “TELL ME!!!”
The fox spirit felt his legs shake as he drops back down to his knees but he proceeds to clutch on to Vox’s hakama, sobbing. “Please.. Tell me.. What else.. W-what do I not have… I’ve already given you everything! I EVEN PROMISED YOU MY SOUL, YOU BASTARD! WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT?!” His grip tightens, trying to stand back up to face Vox at his eye-level.
The voice demon continued to not utter a word. The kitsune angrily grits his teeth but instead of pushing into his master more, he lets go. With a single tear trickling down his face, he slowly speaks,
“You really are a demon.”
“.…” The way Mysta uttered those words were in a cold and estranged tone he’s never used on Vox before. A tone so chilling the demon thought that the snow was getting to him. He knew that Mysta wouldn’t take this confession easily but what could he possibly do when he feels nothing but emptiness whenever the fox was around?
The brunette took a step back, looking down before slowly morphing into his fox form and dragged his feet away, running far from Vox as he could.
“Mysta, wait!!!” Vox hastily calls out to his familiar, and yet takes no effort to even take a step forward to follow his tracks. It was as if the guilt was finally weighing down on him. ‘He couldn’t have gone far, I’m sure he’ll come back. I’m sure of it. He’ll come back in the morning and we can fix all this.’, Vox thinks, looking back to all the times that Mysta took off somewhere for a few hours and then coming back for dinner with a sulking face and all it took was for Vox to cheer him up is apologize and give him lots of attention. He may not love Mysta like he used to but he was still Vox's dearest friend. "Perhaps I should give him some space for now." He mutters, slowly moving towards the stronghold gates.
The morning indeed came..
…..but Mysta never came back.
400 years went by. Vox Akuma long rose from his grave and lived away from his original stronghold in Japan and decided to settle in the United Kingdom to hide and prepare the revival of his clan. Throughout all of his preparations however, he did not once caught sight of a certain fox familiar. The demon has come to accept that his soulmate was forever gone. Mysta was already a weak spirit to begin with, and without his spirit core, Vox had no ways to bring him back to life.
The demon knew that this was the punishment for his ignorance and he accepted to live with all the guilt and regret for as long as he lived.
The raven haired man sighs, “Why am I suddenly thinking about this? I need to be in good spirits for the company meeting.” He slightly slaps his face with both of his palms, trying to shake off any negative vibes from his system before finally walking into the company building.
Vox enters the conference room and scans around. It seemed like he wasn’t the first one to arrive but the others should be here soon. He took a seat beside a fellow with raven hair, his hairstyle cut into a mullet of sorts with yellow and pink highlights sticking out in his fringe. He was about to greet the person but was interfered by the door opening.
“Wassup everyone!!” The demon’s eyes widen as he hears the newcomer’s voice resonate in the room. He dare not look up however. It’s as if his whole body just froze and he couldn’t move an inch.
This voice- It can’t be… There was no way-, Vox finally musters up the strength to lift up his head and was met by a familiar glint of turquoise. He stares as a gloved hand reaches out to him and the owner grins,
“Heya! I heard you were a fellow Brit? My name’s Mysta Rias! You can call me Mysta, nice to meet you!”