Work Text:
life isn't fair for the most part.
Luckily that's not something you have to worry about when you're a spirit. However, what you do have to worry about the dangers of seams. they are cracks through reality, and show the instability between the spirit and the human realm. nobody knows where they lead, and anyone who has found out couldn't come back to tell the tale.
There were rumors though, as there always are with the unknown; "A portal to another universe", "A rift to the human realm",
"A fourth way for spirits to be destroyed"
The last one was the most believed among the spirits. so when more and more started opening around, people couldn't help but grow a little afraid of them.
overtime though, as they became more common, some became careless. seams opened but people did not move out of the way in case they spread, even going as far as standing next to one, with no way out.
and one day, that went horribly wrong.
it was a simple day, really. the only anomaly had been the new kid with conductor powers. The seams had been pretty on the low, but out of nowhere they had started spreading like crazy. Doors disappeared, objects were gone and the whispers became louder.
Kad however, just wanted to play at the arcade.
Dakuiri had wanted to do his job, dragging around a silly t-shirt for that insufferable door. yet this big fluffy guy had somehow convinced him to ignore his job and (in his words) "just relax and lose yourself in enjoyment"
He tried to reject but kad stared at him with those big eyes, and said possibly the one thing he could to convince him.
"Wherever we go?"
Dakuiri sighed, he couldn't just say no to this
"We go together..."
So he walked inside, I mean what could go wrong?
There were several games in the back, but the hyper noises had almost driven him away immediately. He spared the machines another glance, sighing. telling himself that this wasn't just for him. but for Kad too, he hadn't been the greatest friend lately so this would be the least he could do.
after a little while, Dakuiri actually found himself growing a little fonder over a particular dancing game, though it did leave him a bit out of breath.
Kad did not seem very bothered to check up on him, but he was busy having a joking argument with Kohno. So Dakuiri turned back to the game, which had a sudden shake added to it. at first, he had thought it was to throw him off, but not even a second later screams filled the room. He spun around, the "missed" noise ringing in his ears. But that didn't matter.
A giant seam had ripped open the arcade, and Ribbert had just so happen to be standing right where the glitching mess had split open.
"EVERYONE OUT NOW" Kad screamed, nobody hesitated to follow his orders, they had all seen what just happened to Ribbert.
well, everyone apart from Kohno who was desperately trying to claw her way out of Kad's grip to get to her friend.
In what seemed like a mere minute everyone sprinted out of the arcade. and just in time too, as the seam spread far enough to cover the entrance.
"is mr Ribbert gonna be okay?"
Everyone looked down at ana, who was justifiably distressed
"YUP He's gonna be just fine! infact, I heard that..... those seams usually let out somewhere else..... Might just take Ribbert a while to get back.... yep..."
The sudden silence was deafening as everyone exchanged some awkward looks. but ana seemed to get just a little glimmer of hope. "Really?"
solo rolled his eyes, whispering "idiot" under his breath, Kad quickly took care of this by slapping him on the wrist.
"Y-yea he's gonna be fine-"
there was more silence. Dakuiri never told anyone, but he hated silences, so he quickly invited everyone to the ice cream shop. "my treat."
Kohna let out a large sight and told everyone to come inside with her, and as everyone slowly trickled into the ice cream shop dakuiri and kad stayed behind.
Kad already knew this wasn't going to be fun, his friends face was flustered with anger and seemingly on the verge of a meltdown.
"YOU HAPPY NOW? YOU LAZY, STUPID ANIMAL!?"
Kad took a small step back, not wanting to look like he was in a threatening position. "I- This was Lepida! not me-. I mean what were we supposed to do? some door's wild goose chase?" Dakuiri's ears flushed red at the response, he looked ready to kill. "I DON'T KNOW! SOMETHING, ANYTHING!"
he looked around, seemingly searching for something that wasn't there. "ITS OUR FAULT THAT THOSE *cough* KIDS HAD TO *cough* SEE THAT!"
Dakuiri quickly grabbed his inhaler and used it, it was a lot worse than when he had first gotten it, and he could tell it was basically unusable, but he was too angry to ask kad for his newer one, He'd just have to get his spare one at heartbroken in a minute.
"god, why do I even listen to you anymore, all you ever do is blab your mouth until you make everything go south and the I HAVE TO FIX IT. GOD I WOULD BE OKAY IF YOU COULD DO JUST ONE THING, BUT NO LETS DUMP ALL YOUR PROBLEMS ON ME."
Kad looked a little taken a back by what had been said, he was used to dak being stressed, but this time he genuinely looked livid...
and it was directed at him.
"W-Well... WELL- IT ISN'T MY FAULT THAT YOU ALWAYS WANNA DO EVERYTHING. I CAN'T HELP IT THAT I WANNA RELAX EVERY ONCE IN AWHILE LIKE A NORMAL SPIRIT!"
kad didn't really know why he had started yelling, maybe to defend some sort of honour? it didn't matter now though, he had started an argument so now he had to stick by his decisions.
"BUT THATS JUST IT KAD, IF YOU WERE EVEN HALF AS PRODUCTIVE AS ANY OTHER SPIRIT IT WOULD BE OKAY, BUT YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING. YOU JUST SUCK OFF OF OTHERS WITH NO REGARD FOR THEIR TIME"
Kad stopped for a second, a tear rolled down his fuzzy cheek, almost unoticable to non animal spirits. Then his face went white hot, he didn't care anymore, he wasn't going to put up with this and just be treated this way. He was gonna stand up for himself here and now.
"OH I'M SORRY MISTER PERFECT GUY. AM I NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOUR IMPOSSIBLE STANDARDS IS THAT IT?
MAYBE IF YOU RESPECTED PEOPLE FOR 2 SECONDS AND TRIED TO SEE THEIR EMOTIONS THEN YOU WOULD REALISE THAT DESPITES YOUR WORK, PEOPLE STILL THINK THAT YOU'RE PATHETIC. THEY ONLY COME TO HEARTBROKEN CAUSE YOU HAND OUT FREE DRINKS. MAYBE THEN YOU WOULD ALSO SEE THAT YOU DO SO MUCH MORE WORK THAN REQUIRED FOR A JOB YOU ARE 𝑁𝐸𝑉𝐸𝑅 𝐺𝑂𝐼𝑁𝐺 𝑇𝑂 𝐺𝐸𝑇 CAUSE EVERYONE WHO CAN GIVE YOU THE JOB 𝐻𝐴𝑇𝐸𝑆 YOUR PERSONALITY."
Kad quickly slapped his hand over his mouth, crap he really went too far with that. hopefully dak didn't take it too personall-
Dakuiri was silent, he just stared at Kad, completely speechless.
"Dak I'm sorry-"
"Leave"
Kad's eyes widenth
"Wh- wait no, dak-"
"Leave"
"I'm sorry please don't-"
"I SAID LEAVE"
Tears streamed down Kad's face, he hadn't intended for it to go this far.
Dak turned his back on him, and started walking towards heartbroken.
"And don't come back."
Those were the last words Kad heard before the man was out of sight. he stood there for a few minutes, in shock.
He wanted to go home, help dakuiri and give him a hug, play video games in his room and talk about dinosaurs. But he couldn't.
Dak obviously needed his space, the least he could do was respect it.
So he went inside the ice cream shop, the door was thick so everyone had heard very little of the screaming outside, yet him walking inside without Dakuiri raised some questions.
The first one to bite was poor innocent ana.
"Where did Dakuiri go kad? I thought he was gonna be here..."
Kad squeezed his eyes shut for a second, trying to prevent himself from breaking down.
"I- he-... He went to the beach to see if ribbert was coming back yet..."
Ana seemed satisfied with the answer, but the rest exchanged worried looks. Kad and Dakuiri were never far apart, so something bad must have happened.
Kad wiped away the remaining tears and got an ice cream. he remembered Dak saying that he would pay, so he searched his pockets for some money, when he found something solid he put it on the counter, it was some loose change (the ice cream was free anyways) and Dakuiri's inhaler.
Dammit, I still have his inhaler. Whatever, he had a spare one in their room at heartbroken.
He pockets the inhaler and turns around with a big smile. "Would you guys like to play a game?"
Dakuiri struggles to lock the door behind him. His ashtma medication had not helped, he'd have to get his spare one from upstairs. Quickly, he thought. I need it, now.
He ran to the kitchen door and opened it. he was struggling to stand up straight at this point. another sprint to the stairs.
*BAM*
he slipped over a loose leaf of cabbage, the last bit of energy that had kept him going up until this point was knocked out of him in one fell swoop.
everything around him started to blurr, but he couldn't tell if that was because of the lack of air, or because of the tears in his eyes.
by the gods, he hadn't thought that Kad held so much resentment for how he treated him, he was a horrible person.
He brought his knees to his chest so that he could wipe his tears on his now stained pants. He didn't deserve the guy, he had always been so nice to him and all he did was treat him like shit.
He was gasping for air, and one particularly painful breath reminded him that he still needed to get up the stairs to his inhaler.
So he crawled, he knew it looked pathetic, but he crawled. every stair he pushed himself up was more painful, but he had to survive. it was his instinct. even if he wouldn't die he didn't want to be hurt.
He saw his inhaler on his desk. seven more stairs to go.
He pushed up one, and thought about what kad had said.
He pushed up the second one. fighting the urge to grab at his throat.
The third, maybe he deserved this.
The fourth. Maybe this was payback for what he had done to kad
The fifth. Kad hadn't come back yet
The sixth. maybe kad would never come back.
He put his hand on the seventh stair, hope filled his eyes, he was so close. He reached out for the inhaler.
But in the process he lost balance and slipped down the stairs, he hit his back on the wall. maybe if he hadn't been this way Kad would have been there to catch him. He had told Kad to never come back, and he was so deathly afraid that he had listened.
So Dakuiri laid there, staring at the kitchen door, whimpering softly every so often. he laid there for hours.
Kad wasn't coming back, was he?
"Would you guys like to play a game?"
Everyone looked at each other awkwardly, but nobody said no. "wanna play would you rather big guy?"
Kad nodded, he just wanted to get his mind off of what had just happened.
"Hmmmmmm... okay big guy! Would you rather be a demon or an object spirit"
Kad thought about it, while Kohno asked more questions. "Depends, what kind of object spirit?" "Hmmmm. like a rock or something lame¨
Kad finally spoke up.
"I'd definitely rather be a rock. losing yourself is the worst thing that could happen to a person, I wouldn't wish that upon my worst enemy."
Everyone was silent for a moment, and they could have sworn they saw a black leaf fall onto the table, but it was gone as soon as it appeared and the conversation continued.
It was a few hours later now. 5 to be exact. Kad hoped Dakuiri would be asleep by now and he could quietly sneak into bed without bothering him. So he walked back to heartbroken. The train had broken down (somehow) so they couldn't go back regardless.
He opened the front door, and immediately knew something was wrong. He quickly locked it behind him, before picking up on the loud noises in the kitchen. It sounded like a wild dog had broken in and was eating the food.
Kad rushed to the kitchen door and swung it open, the rotten stench came over him with a hint of sweetness from Dakuiri's perfume and wet fur. it stung his eyes and it took him a good few seconds to process what he saw.
A tall figure that almost hit the ceiling, its legs were crooked and it had ripped parts of black cloth hanging loosely around the arms and legs. pink and purple veins spread trough its fur like a worm trying to wiggle its way out of the cursed body. It had apparently heard Kad coming in, because it went from scavenging the kitchen for leftover food, to staring him right in the eyes.
There was a second when it felt like everything stood still. the eye contact lasted just a second too long.
The giant abomination charged towards the door, luckily Kad was just a tiny bit quicker and slammed it shut just before he heard the create ram into it.
"How did a demon get in here?"
Kad whispered to himself, thinking of how this might have happene-
"Dakuiri"
Oh god, Dakuiri was still in there, he had to save him! Maybe if he went back in there and ran past it he could-
Suddenly something caught his eye. while holding the door closed he picked it up carefully. there was a pair of rose-tinted glasses on the floor. He knew for a fact that these were Dak's.
Eyes, huge pinkish-red eyes.
That demon-
"Oh god no-"
Kad threw up almost immediately. That demon hadn't hurt Dakuiri. That demon WAS Dakuiri.
The demon's left arm had been covered in black flowers, all oozing that beautiful pink that he was always wearing.
And his tie. it had been wrapped tightly around his neck, It looked like it was suffocating him, almost like a noose.
no, this couldn't be happening. Dakuiri would never let himself fall to despair. he knew Kad would always be there to help and support him and-
Öh god this was his fault. If he hadn't yelled at him he would still be here.
He sagged down the door, on the other side you could hear the demon loudly clawing at the door, trying to bust it open.
If he had been a better friend then Dak would be laying peacefully in bed right now, dreaming of becoming the conductor again and maybe holding his hand cause he couldn't sleep. Maybe If he hadn't misinterpreted his words and just come home sooner then it would have all been fine and they could have talked it out. Maybe if...
Maybe if he felt Dakuiri's pain, he could be with him again...
A leaf fell from the ceiling, It was black as the night, Kad picked it up and held it to his heart, together with the visors. and he prayed, to whatever god dared listen.
"Let me be with my friend again."
Kad didn't know how long he sat there, but over time it had begun snowing. just not the peaceful white snow that you'd see on a joyful winter day. no, this was pure black.
But he was at peace with it. if this is what it took to be back with his friend again, then so be it.
slowly the scratching faded into the background and so did the world around him. everything was going dark.
A jolt went through Kad's spine, it hurt. it REALLY hurt. It felt like all his bones were breaking and moving around in his body. He tried to scream, but nothing came out. he cried for Dakuiri but nobody came.
Was this what Dak had felt when he left him? Maybe he deserved it then.
His left arm had given out, but his right miraculously still worked. so he opened the door, so he could see him one last time.
He threw himself forward. everything hurt so much, but he didn't care, he had only one goal.
Give dak 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡 ℎ𝑢𝑔.
he tried to hold him, but all Dak did in his frustration is claw at his back, he didn't care. so what if he died right now? at least it would be in daks arms.
So he persisted. bite marks in his shoulders and sharp claws sinking deep into his skin.
but most importantly, Daks soft fur underneath him.
Had he always been this warm?