Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Apo stared down at the pliers in her hands.

It had happened one too many times. Too many times she had almost slipped up and revealed herself, had looked too closely at someone's neck, had found herself running her tongue over her teeth as she bred the cows. It was too much. She needed to be dealt with. Dealt with, before she hurt someone, before she became like them. If she was less of a coward she would’ve taken one of the stakes everyone in town now carried and driven it through her own heart, but even now the fear of death gripped her.

There were other ways to make sure she never hurt anyone, though, which is how she now found herself knelt in her… the house she had once shared. The floor had never been fully finished before Pyro had turned on everyone and Apo had taken to spending most days sitting at the top of her watchtower to avoid being around anyone. It felt more fitting to do it here, somehow, in a place most people avoided, a grim reminder on the outskirts of town.

Apo raised the pliers to their mouth. Their mind screamed at the presence of silver as they wrapped the head around their right fang.

She pulled.

Pain instantly exploded in her skull as blood filled her mouth. Apo gasped. In the military they had put her through all kinds of shit as part of basic training– the mere mention of gas training still sent shivers down her spine– and she had even gotten shot at, but this was still worse. It was too late to back out now though. This was the only way to ensure everyone was safe from her. She tightened her shaking hands around the handle and pulled harder despite the screaming pain radiating through her jaw.

There was a sickening, sucking sort of resistance, like trying to pull something out of quicksand. She pulled, and pulled, and tried to resist the urge to throw up, and pulled-

With a final shock of pain the fang ripped free.

The pliers clattered to the floor as Apo fell to their hands and knees, head spinning. They could just make out through blurred eyes red drops falling to the dark wood below as they coughed up the blood filling their mouth. It felt like drowning. With each supernaturally slowed beat of her heart the pain throbbed and she choked back a sob. She… she needed to pick the pliers back up, do the second fang before her resolve wavered any farther, finish what she had started…

Her head shot up as she heard the door creak open.

Legundo stood frozen in the doorway. A brief look of shock crossed his face before he schooled it into a careful blank neutrality. He glanced around outside before stepping inside, calmly closing the door behind him. Apo scrambled back with a whimper, but there was nothing in the shell of the house to hide behind, no where to escape his gaze. Legundo crossed the room and knelt down in front of her.

“I thought I heard a weird noise from outside,” he offered as way of explanation.

“I-it’s not what it looks like, I-” Apo stuttered out before she was overtaken by coughing again. Her hand came away from her mouth covered in blood.

“And what is it supposed to look like?” His voice was level and neutral, but Apo still shrank back like they were being scolded.

“You… you don’t understand. This is the only way to keep everyone safe. I’m, I’m a monster.” Tears poured down her cheeks and mixed with the blood. “I-I was too much of a coward to kill myself, but I can’t be allowed to be like this. I’ll hurt someone. You have to let me do this.”

“And what is the ‘this’ you’re doing?”

Apo’s eyes flickered down to the ground where the pulled fang had rolled after she dropped the pliers. Legundo followed and sharply inhaled as he put the pieces together. She jolted forward in desperation.

“Please, please, don’t tell anyone, just let me finish, I can do it, I-”

“Stop.” Apo opened their mouth to argue but Legundo’s glare had them obediently closing it. “Stop talking, it’s making the bleeding worse.” He leaned back and rubbed his face, taking a moment to regain his composure. “Firstly, I am not letting you pull out any more teeth. I’m taking this away from you.” Legundo picked up the pliers and wiped the worst of the blood off on his smock before sticking it in his bag. His mouth twisted into a grim ironic grin. “Secondly, I don’t have any of my dentistry tools on me right now, but, well, I don’t think the mirror would work anyway. So, you’re just going to have to be a good patient and listen to me, okay?”

Apo shrank back and wrapped her arms around herself. She eyed him warily but gave a small nod of acknowledgement.

“I’m going to check to make sure none of the tooth broke off inside your mouth where it could cause problems,” Legundo said casually.

Her eyes went wide and she broke the ‘no talking’ rule immediately even as it pulled at the wound and filled her mouth with more blood. “No! No, you can’t, what if I accidentally bite you-”

“With what?” She recoiled at his words like she had been slapped. “Wasn’t that the entire point?”

They opened and closed their mouth like a dying fish, but they didn’t have any argument. Apo pressed their shoulders up around their ears as fresh tears fell. Legundo gave them a level look, staring into their eyes.

“Listen. I don’t care about the vampire thing; it’s probably only a matter of time before they get me anyway. You’re hurt, and that’s that.” Apo sniffled pathetically and he softened. “I want to help you, Apo.”

Apo wiped miserably at the tears but nodded.

Legundo gave her a reasssuring grin. He pulled a cloth out of his bag and tipped his canteen onto it, wetting it. He reached out and Apo fought the urge to flinch back as he wiped the blood from her chin. She felt like a child. Deeming it sufficiently clean he pulled on a pair of gloves. He held her chin in one hand. With the other hand he pressed lightly on her jaw and Apo had to fight every instinct to run and hide as she opened her mouth. Pain shot through her skull and had stars exploding behind her eyes as he gently explored the gap where her fang had been, brows furrowed.

“It doesn’t seem like there’s any broken chunks left. I really wish I had a mirror that worked.” Legundo sighed. “Not that I want to encourage doing impromptu dental surgery on yourself, you nevertheless did a good job.”

Apo had to close her eyes when Legundo pulled back, head spinning with nausea at the sight of her blood coating the glove. It was truly a sick twisted joke by the universe that she retained her hemophobia even after being turned. She peeked her eyes back open when he tapped lightly on her cheek to get her attention.

“I’m going to put a piece of gauze in your mouth, and then sit and wait while it heals and you calm down.”

He left no room for debate and Apo was forced to accept, cringing at the dry texture. Legundo laughed slightly.

“You pulled out one of your own teeth, but gauze is too far, sensory wise?”

Apo’s cheeks burned with indignation, but she couldn’t really retort with a mouth full of cotton. She glared at him as much menace as she could muster when her eyes were still watery and bloodshot from crying. Legundo just gave a fond roll of his eyes. He went to take off his gloves but paused, eyeing the tooth still laying on the ground. Apo’s breath caught in her throat as he picked it up carefully and regarded it with a clinical eye.

“Will say, the one upside to all this is that I didn’t think I would have the chance to investigate vampire anatomy without being turned myself.” He turned the fang in his fingers, pressing the tip lightly against his thumb, testing the point. “My working theory was that the curse was really some kind of venom. Your fang isn’t hollow, however, and doesn’t have the groove of a back-fanged snake either. Annoying.” Legundo huffed. “I refuse to believe it has anything to do with souls or magic. There’s just something I’m missing. At least this presumably means we don’t have to worry about any kind of infected or impacted venom sack from you doing your own dental surgery. Would you be fine with me keeping this?”

Apo just stared at him in a sort of quiet bafflement. They made some noise vaguely translating to ‘what the fuck is wrong with you?’, unable to speak as they were. Legundo just stared back.

“I’m taking anything I can to try and find a cure. You want that, don’t you?” Apo was still for a long moment before nodding. Legundo wrapped the tooth in an extra piece of gauze and stuck it in his pocket before finally removing his gloves. “Then that’s settled.”

She hadn’t even realized she had started to scratch at the bite scar on her wrist from when… from Scott, until Legundo glanced at it. Her claws had drawn angry red lines on her arm, nearly drawing blood. His eyes softened and he gently took her hands in his.

“Hey, no more injuries. I only have so many bandages on me right now.” He attempted to joke. Apo just wilted in on herself and he squeezed her hands tighter. Legundo heaved a sigh. “Look, Apo, I’m not… angry, or disappointed, or disgusted, or whatever it is you think I am. It’s my job to help people, and you’re sick. I don’t hate you for getting sick.”

They just looked up at him through their eyelashes, fresh tears threatening to fall. Legundo silently considered her for a moment before making up his mind.

“Apo, can I tell you a story?” She nodded hesitantly, wondering where he was going with this. “You’re military, yeah? I got my start as an army medic before I used the grants after my enlistment to become a surgeon. So you’ll know the type of person I’m about to talk about.” The edge of his lips twisted in a sad little smile. “One of those commanding officers. Their father was a general, their granddad was a general, their great-granddad was a knight, etc. The type that thinks that, just because they have a long family pedigree and went to one of the military academies, they’re better than the rank and file. God, mine was one of the worst of the worst. Claimed his family was descended from one of Arthur’s knights and had been destined to be the leader of troops since time immemorial.” Legundo paused for a long second. “When he got shot in the neck, I still worked through the night to try and save him. So no, I don’t hate you, but even if I did, I would still help you.”

Apo just stared at the floor and refused to meet his eyes. He sighed.

“You don’t need to believe me, but it’s true. Now, if what Avid says about accelerated healing is true, you can remove the gauze.”

He freed her hands and she gladly picked the bloody piece of cotton out of her mouth. Her tongue immediately went to the gap. The skin had already healed smooth over, only a bit of lingering ache left to imply anything had happened at all and she hadn’t simply been missing a fang the entire time. Apo picked at the threads of the gauze absentmindedly, still refusing to look directly at Legundo.

“...Thank you,” she finally mumbled. “I… Thanks.”

Legundo smiled warmly. “Anytime. Now, are you hungry? I have steak I haven’t gotten around to cooking yet.”

Apo opened her mouth.

“...And you aren’t allowed to lie.”

She closed her mouth.

He chuckled. “That’s what I thought.”

Legundo grabbed one out of his inventory and wordlessly handed it over. Apo hated the way she instantly started salivating over the raw meat. She tried to act normal but the first touch against her tongue had her absolutely inhaling it, barely stopping to chew, starved as she was. Like a wild beast she licked every last bit of blood from her fingers. She looked up guiltily at Legundo, but he just silently handed her another. This time she actually had enough self control to eat slowly. The taste lingered on her tongue like the sweetest pastries, and she hated it, disgust at what she had become curdling in her gut. She wiped her fingers off on the floorboards for lack of a better option. Actually having a tiny bit of nourishment instead of starving herself on purpose had taken out even that lingering bit of ache in her jaw. Apo kept finding herself instinctively tonguing the gap, mind searching for something that was no longer there.

“So,” Legundo eventually offered.

Apo looked off to some nothing spot to the side. “So.”

“I assume I’m the first one to know.”

They shrank in on themself. “Yeah. You are.”

“You’re gonna have to tell the others.”

Apo’s head shot up. “What?! No! They’ll…. they’ll kill me, or kick me out, and I have to protect you all!”

Legundo sighed. “Think about it logically for a second. What would be more suspicious to the more…” He paused to think of a word that wasn’t just ‘insane’. “...Fanatic members of our group: coming out and saying it publicly, or continuing to try and hide until someone finds out by surprise much like I did? For what it’s worth, if they see what you did to yourself they’ll almost definitely be sympathetic, and I’ll be there on your side. If they try to kill you or throw you out they’ll have to go through me.”

Apo tried to think of any argument, any at all, but came up short. She floundered for a moment before slumping in defeat. “...Do you promise?”

“You have my solemn oath. I won’t let any harm come to you.”

Legundo finally stood from where he had been crouched on the floor this entire time. He held his hand out. Apo stared at him for a long moment, before taking it, pulling herself to her feet.

He squeezed her hand in reassurance once before opening the door.

Chapter Text

Legundo had called an emergency town meeting before Apo could change her mind back, and now the group gathered in a loose circle in the middle of town. Not around the beacon, it had been decided, both because of the tunnels underneath, and also bad memories of last time. Apo hung nervously slightly behind Legundo and resisted the urge to run, scream, and cry, in that order. The rest of the town looked at him expectedly.

“Yaknow, the last time we had a town meeting a vampire tried to make us kick out Avid,” Drift said bluntly.

Legundo just glanced at her and she fell quiet once again. “Okay, before I start, I need you,” he turned and pointed at Avid. “I need you to promise to be normal and not overreact immediately.”

Avid furrowed his brow. “What do you mean-” His eyes went wide and he stepped back nervously. “I-is there a vampire here? Are you a vampire?”

Legundo closed his eyes and pinched his nose in exasperation. “What did I literally just say.”

“B-because if there’s a vampire here and you’re, you’re harboring them, I’ll-”

“It’s me.”

It became so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Apo hurried on before anyone could respond. “I-I got turned, by Scott, shortly before you and Drift arrived at the castle. But I, I don’t, I’m not with them. I had to.” Memories of that day by the crypt had shivers going up her spine, the way they had hunted her down, drank from her… “They cornered me, said I had to bring one of you to get turned or they’d kill me, but I… I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t sacrifice one of you. I gave myself over instead.” She took half a step forward in her desperation and felt her soul wither at the way Avid scrambled back and his hand flew to his stake. “Please, you have to believe me. I’m not with them.”

Apo could feel everyone’s eyes on her like a physical weight. Her gaze flickered over the crowd. Avid looked just about ready to bolt if it wasn’t for Drift grabbing his arm, her own eyes wide too. Ren, Sausage, and Martyn stared at her warily. Apo could see Martyn’s fingers twitch on the lantern he always carried now. Abolish was as usual hanging at the far back quietly, his expression utterly unreadable.

Lastly Apo looked at where Pearl and Cleo stood. Pearl was glancing around nervously like she didn’t quite understand what was happening, but Cleo… Cleo met Apo’s eyes directly. Their eyes narrowed slightly but they kept their relaxed, unbothered pose as they leaned against a nearby wall. Nevertheless Apo felt shivers run up her spine.

Finally Martyn broke the silence, crossing his arms. “How do we know you’re not just lying to us like Owen did?”

“I literally saved your life!” Apo stared at him pleadingly. “I… I changed the details slightly. I didn’t just happen upon you washed up on the shore.” They remembered the weird, string-of-cord feeling that had had them running to the castle that night. Apo knew now it had been their body reacting to Cleo being turned. “I-I could feel you die, somehow, and flew as fast as I could to find you and rescue you. I dragged you all the way back to the village. If I was one of them I would’ve turned you, but I didn’t.”

“What, just so you could eat me later?”

Apo felt tears of frustration and fear prick her eyes. “What? No! No, I was saving your life! A-and, Avid, Drift, don’t you remember me pushing Pyro off the bridge when he came up behind us? I wouldn’t do that if I was working with them! Please, you have to believe me!”

Abolish’s voice was so quiet Apo almost didn’t hear him speak at first. He was staring at her like a puzzle he was putting together in his head. “Apo, have you always been missing one of your teeth?”

They opened their mouth to respond, but felt cold dread wash over them as everyone stared directly at it. Apo closed their mouth, feeling sick.

Legundo threw up his hands. “Yes, thank you! If you all would just let me speak!" He pulled the tooth out of his pocket and let the gauze wrapping fall open. His voice became gravely serious. “I walked in on Apo attempting to rip out her fangs. I don’t think someone who was working with the other vampires would do that.”

A small collective gasp rippled through the crowd. Drift dropped Avid’s arm to cover her mouth in shock. Avid himself looked vaguely sick, all the color draining from his face. The rest of the crowd were equally shocked and aghast; even Cleo’s eyes had gone wide and betrayed her nonchalant act. Apo shrank back in on herself almost guiltily.

Martyn was once again the first one to speak. His face looked slightly green as he stared at the fang. “J-Jesus.”

“For obvious reasons, I believed her,” Legundo finally offered. He closed his hand and hid the offending article from view. “It would’ve been a bit hard not to.”

Avid still clutched his stake nervously but he looked incredibly unsure. “I-I don’t know-”

Legundo all but growled at him. “For goodness sake… What more could you possibly want? For Apo to kill herself in front of all of us?”

“H-Hey-!”

“We mustn’t fight,” Ren interrupted. “That’s be how they win, dontcha know? Let the lass explain herself.”

Apo stared down at the ground and wrapped their arms around themself. Their tongue instinctively went to the gap in their teeth. “I don’t want to hurt anyone,” she finally said, voice small. “I-I thought, if I could just rip them out, no one would notice and I could continue to hide. I don’t want to hurt any of you.”

“I believe her.”

Avid whipped his head around to look at Drift. “Drift-”

Drift just leveled a flat stare at Avid. “I believe her. There’s so many times they could’ve betrayed us but haven’t.”

“It… it could all be a really long con…” The explanation felt flat, even to himself. His eyes were wide and frantic as he glanced around the group for support.

“...I think I believe her too,” Sausage offered. “I don’t think I could do something like that if I was turned.”

Martyn worried at his lip. “I do have to admit, Apo did save me. I don’t want to think about what would’ve happened if…” He trailed off.

Cleo pushed off the wall. “Okay, I’ve heard enough.” The group fell silent under her authority as she raised up her right hand. “We do this the civilized way. Raise your hand if you believe Apo and are fine with her staying in town.”

Legundo’s hand shot up immediately. He glanced at Apo from the corner of his eye and gave her a single nod. Drift was second with a guilty look towards Avid. Martyn’s fingers twitched on his lantern again nervously but he eventually raised his free hand. Sausage and Ren followed his lead. Abolish gave Apo one last lingering examination before deciding something in his mind. He nodded and raised his hand too. Pearl still looked incredibly lost and confused, but hesitantly followed suit.

Everyone turned to look at Avid.

He was near hyperventilating, knuckles white with how hard he clutched the stake. Avid backed up a couple of steps and Apo briefly wondered if he was about to run into the woods again.

“It looks like you’ve been outvoted,” Cleo said simply.

“I- I- I don’t…” Avid sounded near tears. “I…”

Drift stepped towards him. “Avid-” He flinched backwards and she cringed guiltily and stopped. “Avid, she’s our friend.”

Avid squeezed his eyes shut and bit his lip. “The… the prison cell. I’ll believe her if she stays in the prison cell at night.”

Legundo’s lips curled back and he went to speak, but Apo hurriedly interrupted him. “I’ll do it.”

He spun to look at her. “Apo, we’re not putting you in jail-”

“I said I’ll do it. I’ll sleep there every night if that means I can stay.” Their voice shook slightly but they dug their nails into their palms to steady themself. “I refuse to be like one of them. I made a promise to protect everyone here, and I will.”

Legundo looked incredibly unhappy but bit his complaints back, at least for now. Cleo gave Apo one last narrow eyed look before shrugging for the crowd.

“Guess that’s settled then. Now, if you all don’t mind, I’m going to see if the cows are ready to breed again.”

They wandered off before anyone could object and Pearl gladly scurried after to escape the tense atmosphere. Everyone glanced at each other awkwardly.

“Well, I’m gonna go tomb raiding while the sun’s still up.” Martyn offered. “Sausage, Ren?” They nodded.

“I’ll go with too, if that’s fine,” Abolish said in that soft quiet voice of his. “Don’t really want to be alone right now…”

“Yeah, can’t really blame you.” Martyn glanced at Apo, but whatever he was thinking he didn’t say. He tore his eyes away and started down the path out of town, the other three following. It was now just Legundo, Drift, Avid, and Apo left.

Legundo crossed his arms and looked at Avid. “You will behave yourself.”

Avid refused to meet his eyes and stared at the ground. “Okay.”

Drift grabbed his elbow. “Let’s go somewhere else, yeah?” He mutely nodded and Drift led him off with a final backward look over her shoulder at Apo.

Legundo sighed and scrubbed his face. “That could have gone better.”

Apo wilted. “Sorry.”

“You of all people shouldn’t be apologizing,” he grumbled. Legundo sighed again. “What’s done is done, I suppose. I need to put your… my stuff away, if you want to come with me.”

“Thanks but… I think I need some alone time.”

Legundo was quiet for a moment. “...Okay. But if you need anything, you know where to find me.”

He went off to his house and Apo found herself alone in the middle of town. She stood there for a long second before she could bring herself to move. Her feet found their way to the watchtower and she climbed to the top, opening the newly added silver trapdoor onto the roof. She sat down and tucked her legs to her chest, head tipped back to catch the sun, even if a part of her hindbrain grumbled in complaint.

Despite herself, she felt hope starting to bloom in her chest.