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It was an oddly empty night in Paris, and Noé had gotten lost again.
Noé let out a concerned sigh as he turned around, trying to figure out where exactly he was. “This happens way too often,” he confessed to himself.
In his defence, he never tried to get himself lost, he would just see something he finds interesting and follow it until he couldn’t find whoever he was supposed to be with, usually Vanitas.
Noé let out a small shiver as he thought about how much Vanitas would yell at him when the doctor eventually finds him. Noé knows it’s because he’s just worried (even if the human won’t admit it), but he’d still rather avoid it.
Guilt suddenly ran through Noé’s body. Before they’d gotten separated, Vanitas was talking about how there was some new Anti-Vampire group operating in Paris. They were a group of former Chasseurs whose hatred for Vampires was somehow too extreme for even the Church and had separated from them in order to attack Vampires whenever and wherever they wanted. Roland had given them a warning to their movements in the city, and since then Vanitas had been oddly resistant to their usual walking trips around Paris.
Noé quickened his pace as he tried finding his way back to Vanitas. He was confident enough in his own ability to defend himself against any of those chasseurs, he mostly just didn’t want Vanitas to get stressed looking for him. But unfortunately, Noé’s navigational skills still left much to be desired.
Noé eventually found himself in another empty street. He was about to run down a connecting one when a sudden spark went through his brain, spotting a bench nearby. He recognizes this place! He’d been here before, so it must be closer to the hotel. That was a good sign.
What wasn’t a good sign was when he remembered how busy with people this particular area of the city usually was. Even if it was past midnight, there were still a couple people moving around.
But there wasn’t a single soul.
Noé’s first instinct was to find Vanitas faster so the two of them could figure out what exactly was going on here, but then he heard movement from some of the nearby rooftops.
They were light footsteps on the tiles, so light that anyone without a Vampire’s heightened sense of hearing probably wouldn’t be able to detect them. Noé quickly realized it must be a trap, shifting his stance to prepare for any attackers coming from the direction he heard the noise.
His mind went to Vanitas, worried that if someone was attack him here, could they also be going for Vanitas.
A few seconds later and the first move was made. Two knives came flying at Noé from the darkness. He managed to quickly dodge them both as a cloaked figure came flying towards him out of the darkness. He dodged the first couple attacks before lunging forward and punching the assailant in the gut.
Noé thought he’d gained the upper hand, but saw a grin appear on his attacker’s face as he lifted his hand, holding something in between his fingers. Noé realized what it was too late, unable to close his eyes fast enough before the Chasseurs’ signature flash bomb went off, temporarily blinding Noé.
Noé stumbled back a few steps as he struggled to recover from the flash when someone came up behind him and jabbed something into his neck.
There are more of them?!?
He didn’t have much longer to think when some kind of fluid was injected into his neck. He elbowed whoever was behind him in the chest before stepping away, quickly pulling the syringe out.
He blinked a couple times, managing to get a few brief glimpses of his attackers amongst the flashing lights. The wore outfits and held weapons similar to those of the Chasseurs, but a shades darker.
This must be that Anti-Vampire group Roland warned us about!
Noé lifted his fists up, ready to fight them off, when suddenly he became incredibly dizzy, finding it difficult to even stand up.
What did they inject me with?
Noé tried to keep his balance, but the drug combined with the flash still affecting his sense made it difficult. He saw more of these Chasseurs approach, all pointing weapons at him.
Noé still managed to block the first few spears that came his way, using the battle skills Teacher had taught him since he was young. Even drugged and dizzy, he was still one of the best fighters in Paris. But with the those affects combined with his ever-growing number of opponents, it would prove extremely difficult to get out of this without an injury or worse.
No, if I get hurt here, Vanitas will never forgive me, he told himself.
He struck out, hitting one opponent before dodging a swing from a sword. He was feeling pretty good about the fight then, until someone behind him managed to swing their spear across Noé’s calf, tearing right into the muscle.
“Get that blood-sucker!” someone called out.
His knee buckled immediately, the pain not at all helping him fight the nausea from the drug. As Noé held himself up on one knee, he saw at least four or five enemies all coming at him at once, raising their weapons to attack.
Noé dodged the first few attacks, but his now injured leg held him back, and the fourth attack managed to cut him across the cheek. It wasn’t a deep cut, but it distracted him long enough for a spear to sweep his legs out from under him, sending him to the ground.
Noé quickly rolled out of the way of a few more attacks, getting back up to his feet when a spear managed to stab through his side. He let out a gasp, going down to a knee again. He had just one moment to swing his arm back and use his Vampire strength to snap the spear before he was being jabbed at again, but the pain kept him from retaliating at his full strength or speed.
The thought What if this is it? suddenly sprang up in the back of his mind. He couldn’t fight back against all these attackers while drugged and wounded.
But I have to, he told himself. What Vanitas and I are doing is too important!
Another cut across his back sent him stumbling a few steps. Another came for his head, he dodged back but it still grazed his forehead. Blood was spewing everywhere. His movements were getting sloppier and sloppier.
No, not here, he thought as he heard sinister laughter from his attackers. I can’t go down like this, I need to protect Vanitas!
He struggled to find the strength to get back to his feet right as three spears came thrusting towards him.
I’m sorry Vanitas…
(a few minutes earlier, a couple streets away…)
“Damn Noé, getting lost on me again,” Vanitas grumbled as he kicked a piece of garbage down the path he was walking down. He anxiously looked around at the moonlit streets. He kept telling himself he wasn’t worried, that the group Roland warned about couldn’t pose that much of a threat to Noé (not that I’m worried much about him in the first place… I’m not!), but he couldn’t help the way his heart beat faster as he searched for his partner.
It was then that he noticed some movement on a rooftop nearby. They were running somewhere quickly, all dressed in black.
“They can’t be up to any good,” he said to himself. He began heading in the direction the figure ran off in, hoping to find out what kind of trouble was going on.
It was then that Vanitas heard a sound off in the distance, one that was clearly far away yet struck something deep within Vanitas, as it was the same sound as the flash bombs the Chasseurs used against Vampires.
“Noé!” Vanitas yelled out as he broke into a sprint, hoping to get to the source of the noise as fast as he could. Every instinct he had to downplay his worry quickly disappeared as he raced across Paris, hoping to find his partner who’d apparently been idiotic enough to wander into a trap.
It took him much longer than he would’ve liked to arrive at the sight of the attack, and what he saw horrified him. Noé hurt, blood flying everywhere as these monsters attacked the vampire that was supposed to be guarding him!
His body moved before he even commanded it to, pulling his book out and using it to make the nearby streetlights go haywire. They quickly flashed brightly before exploding, causing the ex-chasseurs to pause momentarily, and this brief moment was all Vanitas needed, as he jumped into the fray, swinging his knives around at the enemies with their spears pointing directly at Noé while kicking the chest of another, sending him back.
The ex-chasseurs paused at Vanitas’ arrival, while Noé slowly looked up at his saviour. “V-Vanitas?”
The Vampire Doctor looked back, seeing the shocked look on his friend’s face. Not only that, but the wound on his forehead, letting blood drip flow down his face, as well as the cuts all over his body, staining his usual white clothing red.
It’s just like when I… Vanitas suddenly thought, his heart clenching with guilt as he remembered their fight in the amusement park.
“Ah, so the Vampire sympathizers arrived now,” one chided. “We can take two birds out with one stone!”
“I’d like to see you try,” Vanitas barked back, his usual playful attitude entirely disappearing as he glared at his attackers. His grip on his knives tightened as he quickly thought through methods he could use to take down his enemies in the most painful way imaginable.
He then heard shuffling behind him. Turning back, he saw Noé struggling to his feet, his arm holding the wound in his gut. “Vanitas…” he struggled out. “Leave, they’ll hurt you too…”
“I’m not leaving you, you idiot!” he barked, pausing after he saw Noé’s eyes widen at his brief display of vulnerability to him. He quickly shook off the weird feeling it gave him, needing to focus on exacting his revenge on the people who had harmed his partner.
A spear came charging at him right then, which he sidestepped out of the way of while flipping his book open, quickly using it to cause any automatons in the area to go haywire, attacking these ex-chasseurs. This caught the attention of some of the one’s a little further away, leaving two standing in front of Vanitas, ready to attack.
They swung their weapons around wildly, trying to hit Vanitas who managed to casually dodge each and every attack. The one and probably only advantage of his time training with the Chasseurs was that he was now intimately familiar with all their attack patterns, making them easy to defend against. He ducked under one attack only to swing his knife upward, cutting the arm holding the staff. He then quickly turned to the other chasseur.
His fighting style lacked his usual playfulness, the attitude like he didn’t consider his opponents to be much of a threat. Now he attacked with ferocity, only a made glare in his eye and he slashed whatever weapons he had at his opponents. And not only was he able to use his chasseur training against them, but he was also able to use his knowledge as a doctor to attack his opponents where he knew it would immobilize them while also dealing as much pain as he could.
Soon enough, many of the chasseurs were covered in blood and cuts along their legs and arms, hitting vital arteries and nerves that made continuing to fight impossible for them. They all laid across the ground, glaring daggers at the Vampire Doctor who’d taken them all down in a seemingly blind rage (even though Noé could tell it wasn’t blind, every movement he made was 100% calculated to be as effective as possible at taking down his enemies).
It had now gotten to the point that only one chasseur was still standing, but Vanitas managed to quickly disarm them, sending them to the ground. Vanitas growled as he twirled the spear around before pointing at his opponent, anger surging through his body as he thrusted it down, only to get stopped right before going through the chasseur’s throat.
“Vanitas…” Noé weakly let out, using as much strength as he could muster to keep the spear from moving downwards, “Don’t…”
Vanitas turned to look at the weak form of his partner, and instantly dropped the spear. Noé let out a relieved sigh as he watched the hateful energy leave Vanitas’ body, lurching forward to be caught in the doctor’s arms.
“Noé…” Vanitas quietly let out, holding the vampire up straight to finally get a good look at all his injuries. “Why aren’t you healing?”
“Drugs…” Vanitas looked over his neck, spotting a mark that looked like an injection point. He glared at the chasseurs on the ground, hand slowly moving to one of his knives until a hand cupped his cheek, turning his gaze away from his enemies and back towards Noé. “It’s okay, they’re dealt with,” Noé whispered out.
“They hurt you…” Vanitas almost growled, his usual desire to hide his feelings behind belittling jokes completely forgotten.
Noé gave him a weak smile. “Are you saying you care about me?”
Vanitas’ eyes went wide with shock as Noé let out a weak laugh. With that small question, Vanitas’ face son returned to the usual one of mild exhaustion he had around the Vampire, though not without the hints of worry there. “No, I just need you at full strength if you’re to be my shield, that’s all!”
“Uh huh,” Noé let out before coughing up some blood, causing Vanitas to forget to hide how worried he is again. Vanitas tried to lift the vampire up more, causing Noé to let out a whine. “It hurts,” he hissed.
Vanitas gave him a soft expression before whispering “I know, but I need to get you back to the hotel room so I can treat you, okay my dear?” Noé weakly nodded as Vanitas moved Noé so he could hang off his back, although his taller stature meant his feet would be dragging behind him as Vanitas walked. “Why are you so heavy?” he huffed out.
“I’m sorry…” Noé let out weakly. “For getting hurt like this…”
“Shut up,” Vanitas interrupted sharply. “I don’t want to hear that right now.”
“S-sorry…”
Vanitas let out a sigh. “It’s not your fault, Noé,” he let out softly, “It was the fault of those prejudiced monsters back there, okay?”
Noé was quiet for a moment as he took in his partner’s words, smiling softly into his back. “You’re being nice to me… I like it,” he whispered.
Vanitas rolled his eyes even though he knew Noé wouldn’t see it. “Yeah, well don’t get used to it. The minute you’re back on your feet you’ll be hearing it from me for being stupid enough to wander off into a trap like that. Do you have any idea how worried I wa-” Vanitas suddenly froze, the words halfway out his mouth. Noé didn’t say anything, but his weak smile grew wider.
Vanitas made his way back to their hotel room as fast as he could while carrying a full-grown vampire on his back. He walked over to the nearest bed, which just so happened to be his, and sat Noé down on the edge of it.
“No, I’ll get blood all over your sheets,” Noé complained.
“Shhh,” Vanitas said as he began trying to pull Noé’s jacket off, hoping to get a better look at his injury.
Noé let out a light giggle, earning a raised eyebrow from Vanitas. “Really, you want to do that now?”
Vanitas’ confused look grew even wider, moving up to get a closer look at the vampire’s eye. “Shit,” he mumbled to himself, “all the blood loss is making you stupider than you already are.”
“Huh?” Noé let out as Vanitas pulled his knife out and simply cut his jacket and shirt off, revealing his muscular chest covered in blood, a deep wound in his gut.
Vanitas let out a small gasp upon seeing it, and looked over his back to find the entry wound as well. He quickly rushed over to one of the drawers, frantically pulling out strips of bandages and bottles of medicinal alcohol. Vanitas found himself extremely grateful that the man was a vampire, as a regular human would likely have already died from such a wound.
Vanitas rushed back with everything he needed, quickly going to work on treating the wound. “You’re healing should come back once the drugs have worn off, I just need to keep you from loosing anymore blood right now,” Vanitas said as he cleaned the wound. “And then you’ll be back to your usual annoying self.”
“You sound worried,” Noé drearily commented.
“I’m not!” Vanitas shouted, his hands beginning to shake. “Because you’ll be fine, okay?!”
“Why are you worried?” Noé asked, ignoring what Vanitas said.
“Shut up,” he responded, although it came out more as a whimper than a command.
The doctor managed to dress his wound fairly quickly, covering it so that no more of the Vampire’s blood could escape. “There,” he said once he was done, although no relief was in his voice.
He looked up at Noé’s face, and any desire to hide his worried quickly disappeared when he saw the blank expression there, the vampire only half-conscious.
“Feel weird,” he whispered out.
“You’ve lost too much blood,” Vanitas quietly explained. “You’re going to need some soon.”
Upon hearing that, Noé’s eyes slowly moved to gaze at a vein in Vanitas’ neck, and seeing this, Vanitas quickly slapped a hand over it. “Sorry, I know you don’t…” Noé let out before his eyes closed.
“No!” Vanitas exclaimed as the Vampire suddenly went limp, only being held up in the doctor’s arms. He looked between the unconscious vampire in his arms and his knife laying on the floor before making a decision, cutting all along his forearm, letting his blood flow out.
He noticed Noé’s nostrils flare as the blood was exposed, but still he did not wake, so Vanitas let out a small “fuck,” before pulling the vampire’s head back and holding his arm above it, letting the blood drip down and into Noé’s mouth.
“Don’t die on me, Archiviste,” Vanitas commanded as the blood slowly dripped into the vampire’s mouth, his jaw hanging open. As it fell in, he saw movement on his face, yet he still didn’t wake up again, so Vanitas closed his eyes and lowered his arm, letting it sit right in his open mouth. “If you bite me with those fangs, I’ll never forgive you,” he whispered, his usual bite when issuing such threats gone.
As the blood flowed into his mouth, Noé’s eyes slowly opened. He blinked, taking in the situation he was in. He tried to pull his mouth away, mumbling “Vanit…” before Vanitas held the back of his head against his forearm.
“You need the blood, and as long as you don’t bite, you won’t see my memories, so don’t worry,” he quickly explained. A look of understanding passed over Noé, and he closed his eyes again, but not because of his injuries this time.
He moved his tongue up and let it slide against Vanitas’ arm, taking as much blood off of it as he could, making sucking noises against the skin, while still not letting his fangs come out and pierce it. Vanitas felt his face heat up at the sounds the Vampire was making, but ignored it, instead taking in how he could see Noé’s face lighting up as it received more of the bodily fluids it had lost.
In no time, Noé had wiped clean the blood from Vanitas’ arm, but as it was pulled away he mumbled “more.”
Vanitas glared down at him, but noticing how weak and frail he still felt, rolled his eyes as he pulled open his shirt and cut a line right below his collar bone, and delicately pulled Noé forward so he could drink the blood that flowed there.
Noé weakly raised his arms, placing them along Vanitas’ back as he licked and sucked at the flowing blood to hold him close. Vanitas wanted to chide him for that, but didn’t have the heart for it when he realized it meant the Vampire’s strength was returning.
“Enjoying yourself?” Vanitas asked, his voice growing calmer as he looked down at the Vampire with his mouth against his chest. Noé silently nodded, gazing up at him thankfully as blood dripped off his chin. At the same time, he noticed that the shallow cut along Noé forehead was starting to heal, meaning that the drugs had finally worn off and that the Vampire’s wounds would begin repairing themselves at a much faster rate.
Despite the signs that he was already getting better, Vanitas decided to continue letting Noé drink from his blood, telling himself it was only because he wanted to be sure the vampire got all the nutrients he needed and not because he got this strange warm feeling in his chest at having him so close, sucking along his collarbone.
A few more minutes passed until Noé had licked Vanitas clean of all his blood, at which point he closed his mouth, resting his head against Vanitas’ chest. “Thank you,” he whispered.
Vanitas scoffed lightly, patting his hand along Noé hair. “All I did was save your ass, again.”
“Repayment for all the times I’ve saved you then,” Noé replied. Vanitas rolled his eyes. “But still, thank you,” Noé said again. “For the blood.”
Vanitas froze, before forcing a nonchalant attitude. “I only let you drink it because you needed some to survive.”
“Mhm,” Noé responded. “You tasted really good though,” he whispered.
“I think you might need to rest now,” Vanitas interjected, quickly putting an end to wherever that conversation was going to lead. He looked down at his position and was shocked to find that he had somehow ended up on Noé’s lap, his knees on the bed on each side of him. He couldn’t tell whether Noé had pulled him there or if he had unconsciously ended up there while Noé was drinking his blood.
Noé clearly noticed their position at the same time, his ears getting red as he looked down. At least I know he’s got blood flowing through him now Vanitas thought when he saw that, ignoring the way his cheeks suddenly felt hotter.
“Let’s lay you down,” Vanitas said as he began pushing Noé back, still straddling his legs. Noé let out a soft groan as he was pushed down onto the bedsheets.
Vanitas pulled a pillow over and rested it under Noé’s head while still being over top of him, smirking as he saw the way Noé licked his lips upon having the wound he’d just sucked the blood from be so close again.
“Try not to roll around in your sleep again,” Vanitas chided. “We can’t have you hurting yourself any more than you already are.”
“It would help if I had something to cuddle with,” Noé replied, making his lower lip pout.
“No-” Vanitas started, but it was too late as the Vampire’s strong arms wrapped around his waist and pulled him down to the bed, laying on top of him. “Noé, let me go,” he sternly commanded.
Noé instead tucked his head into Vanitas’ shoulder. “Just this once Vanitas? I’m hurt, and I need cuddling to heal.”
“What are you, a child?” Vanitas scoffed but stopped resisting.
Noé smiled as he hugged Vanitas closer. “You know, even though I couldn’t see your memories, I still felt your emotions through your blood,” he whispered.
Vanitas didn’t say anything, only letting out a breath.
“I felt how worried you were, and how much you cared.”
“Of course, I was worried,” Vanitas let out. “I can’t have my shield dying on me.”
“You know it’s more than that,” Noé chided. Vanitas didn’t respond, only closing his eyes. “You don’t have to hide the way you feel, you know.”
Vanitas sighed. “Do we have to talk about this now? It’s been a stressful day.”
Noé smiled, reaching up and wiping a tear away from Vanitas’ eye with his thumb. “I’m sorry for worrying you so much.”
“It’s not your fault,” Vanitas whispered. “It was those demons.”
“Shhh,” Noé let out, holding him closer. “They’re not going to hurt us anymore.”
Vanitas let out a shaky breath. “Why are you the one comforting me? Aren’t you the one who got hurt?”
Noé giggled. “I heal faster than you, remember? And I know your wounds go deeper than the skin.” Noé’s fingers lightly touched over a scar on Vanitas’ back. “I just want you to know that you don’t have to hide your wounds from me, even when I’m the one who’s hurt.”
Vanitas let out another breath. “Let’s go to sleep Noé.”
Noé closed his eyes, resting his head next to Vanitas’. “Okay. Thank you for saving me today.”
He didn’t expect a response from Vanitas, but a few seconds later, right before he fell into his much-needed rest, he heard the doctor mumble “You don’t need to thank me, I didn’t save you for you.”