Work Text:
“Distant sound of bells.
Cold atmosphere engulfs her,
Two corpses dancing.”
.·:*¨¨* ≈☆≈ *¨¨*:·.
“It’s not very polite to enter a lady’s house without an invitation.” Haniya stood at arm’s length towards the not-so-mysterious man, holding a knife pointed directly at his neck. She knew who’s behind the mask and it was no one else but Caine.
“An eye for an eye…” The man chuckled under his grinning golden mask. “Weren’t you the one who intruded first, getting yourself banned from the Velvet Rabbit?”
Haniya clenched her teeth, closed her eyes, giving up on her stance and sheathing her knife. After that single exchange, she realized the man is not here to threaten or kill her. Or at least she hoped it wasn’t the case.
“What’s the reason then? To come here all this way, for…?”
“Curiosity.” He replied, but Haniya could tell he didn’t say that with certainty. It felt like he was quite unsure of himself and simply didn’t want to leave her hanging. Then she felt a gentle nudge against her hand.
“Or maybe I wanted to return the experience.”
Caine swiftly grabbed Haniya’s hand, pulling her closer to him, without her being able to protest. Their surroundings began to change, as if everything was under a magic spell. Haniya had no idea how Caine managed to orchestrate all this in such a short time, especially when she was at home the entire time. She left those thoughts behind as the two of them began to dance, in fact Caine was leading the tempo. She could hear music playing as she was gracefully spun around, not being able to focus on anything what was happening around them. Everything turned crimson, flowers began to sprout on the floor, creeping up the walls, covering the ceiling, looking like flowing torrents of blood. It no longer looked like her room and the passage of time became irrelevant.
Haniya held tightly onto Caine, the intensity making her feel like she would get lost as he was leading her through the horrors. The music was intensifying, their surroundings started to tighten up, becoming cluttered, yet the two figures were still dancing, quicker and more violently. There was barely any space for Haniya’s admiration for Caine’s work, she was only thinking about if she’ll ever get out of it. Her skin felt tight but at the same time she felt like she was being torn apart in the torrent of madness, as if something was trying to crawl out of her, as if flowers were trying to bloom from under her skin, as if she was being burnt alive.
A part of her was still in conflict though, she never got to experience Caine’s art pieces from the literal first row and while it was a painful experience, it was something she was going to think about for a while. She closed her eyes, not being able to witness the artist and his art anymore.
.·:*¨¨* ≈☆≈ *¨¨*:·.
Things came to a sudden halt, quieting down, flowers withering away, crimson blood disappearing. Caine was holding Haniya in his arms as she was feeling sore, her head resting on his chest, while he was humming the melody that was playing during their dance.
Then the man broke the silence. “Delightful, wasn’t it?” His hand crept up to grab Haniya by her chin, making her look up at him.
His golden mask was now gone, as well as the leather cloth layer he always wears under it. And yet, Haniya could not make out his face or his features when she looked at him, despite being face to face, as if it was being obstructed by shadows. All she could see properly were his eyes, one golden, the other crimson. She was still taken back by the performance, now hardly being able to process Caine shed his mask in front of her, so her silence was justified. She just gave him a gentle nod.
“Maybe it will inspire you to improve your preposterous work.” The silence was broken. “You lack passion.” He claimed, as he let go of her, distancing himself.
Those words completely took Haniya out of it. “Wh-! Excuse me?!” She raised her eyebrows, completely flabbergasted, her arms going limp. They just had a quite a moment, and he ruins it like this?! All that to make fun of her own work! While there is some sense to Caine’s words, she is a copycat after all. But this is completely ridiculous.
The artist gave her a deep bow with a smile, knowing he had struck a nerve. “A burnt flower can’t be ignited anymore.” He muttered, signaling the end of their night.
“Until it blooms again.” She added after a short silence, making a few quick steps towards him, the blade of her knife unsheathed once again.
However, Caine didn’t flinch, not even a little bit. He simply stared straight at her; his crimson eye glowing with amusement. He loved it, the blazing conflict in her mind and in her head, unsure which script she’s supposed to follow. He was aware she couldn’t hurt him in a way that would matter at this very moment. Although her potential makes him so excited.
“Wouldn’t that just be so mediocre?” Her blade pressing into his neck wasn’t worrying him one bit, his taunting words were sharper than that. He’s used to way worse stuff happening to him after all. “It would leave both you and me so unsatisfied, but in your case, killing me this way would eat you alive. You would wither away.”
Haniya frowned upon hearing those words, drawing her lips into a line. “You…” She couldn’t get herself to finish the sentence. The hatred and disgust, passion and desire kept washing over her, one over another.
“Get out.”
It’s all she could say, after releasing him from her grasp, looking away from him.
Another smile escaped from the artist's lips. “I am thrilled about our next arrangement, miss Noiyer.” Caine fixed up the collar of his clothes and gave her another bow. She had no response for that, not even her face gave him any answers.
Then he left the same way he came – briskly like a shadow, through the open window. All that was left of him was the sound of bells jingling.
