Chapter Text
JANUARY 13, 2002
— ..
Should he leave now? It wasn’t suitable to stay under this bridge. Small, as it may be. Santana was trying to rationalize his decisions.. he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do anymore. He’s already spent so long, running and running from his cage. After years of rotting under the UV light, he barely was given an opportunity to make it out by pure luck. It took all of his strength to sneak into the smallest crevice with such a weakened body, and allow himself to be traveled far, far away.
He didn’t even remember the details of the trip. All he knew was he found a way out and took it. The next thing he knew he was in a foreign land in a truck. After killing the driver and trying to find shade, this was the safest place he could find nearby.
His skin burned. It was hissing at him, angry and as frustrated as he was for being left vulnerable in the sun. Santana grunted, clutching what remained of his forearm and sinking to his knees. It was cracking, and it started to fail on him even though he was trying to keep it alive. His endless stupidity and cowardice. He should’ve eaten something and regained his strength. Instead he just ran, and ran with no plan and no sense of direction..
With a choked sound, he dug his fingers right above his forearm, where he was still flesh instead of dissolving rock. He broke the skin and started to tug. He bit down on his tongue, closed his eyes, and ripped his forearm off.
“H-Hngh—!”
It went down to the bone, blood spewed out like fountains and splattered on the wet floor. Santana huffed, wildly so, his vision blurry and his arm bleeding out. He just felt so incredibly weak. It was uncanny and unnatural to him. He had always been trying his hardest to become better, stronger. He threw his dying arm out in the sun. It burned faster than he had thought.
It felt humiliating to feel so weak. It was a horrible reminder to him, being raised like hell only to be so far behind—overshadowed immensely by his brother’s natural talents… always reminded every waking day of how weak he was.. of how soft he could be. Santana felt an uncomfortable feeling in his spine. He didn’t want to think about those days anymore… and the pain in his arm does nothing to soothe his mind.
They were dead.. all of them were dead. It didn’t matter. He was the only one left.. he shouldn’t be thinking of them anymore, he should be thinking only for his sole survival. He heard it very well. Although it was muffled from his time as a rock, there were certain periods where he had the opportunity, and from that he knew his partners were dead.
His hair stuck to his skin, unfurling and covering his entire face as he dropped his head down. He was really trying to get himself back together. He hasn’t felt so utterly spent since his fight with that punitive.. Joestar.. Santana’s blood nearly boiled at the thought of it. Steam hissed off his skin, and the open gash on his arm boiled and squirmed, as the tissue began to morph and spit out.
Slowly, and surely, his bone began to form again. The rest of his body followed, the muscles squishing and stretching against each other and completing the entire limb. Pain, frustration and exhaustion swam in his entire body, and he felt like he couldn’t get any respite. Santana clutched his own face, hunching over and feeling nothing but an indescribable sense of dread.
What was he even meant to do? What was left for him?
He sighed, his shoulders dropping as defeat began to sink into him. He didn’t have the energy to think too deeply about anything right now.. he just wanted a moment of calm… but instead of quiet, it was a cacophony of unwanted voices in his head. Just as he clutched his ears to silence it, there was the smallest sound of footsteps that dared to approach his dominion. Santana’s anger surged again, and he whipped his head to the left where the bridge’s sides were opened.
Past the blaring light, he could very clearly see a silhouette. Just standing there, and oddly enough, their eyes seem to glow a bright green in the shade. Looking closely, he could tell it was.. a male, and to his assumption, a human.
Yet it was odd, he had never met a human with such vibrant eyes, and his ears were so pointed that it almost appeared unnatural… but Santana doesn’t know anything. Humans could have changed—evolved, somehow. Joseph was different. A Hamon user… this could be another one of them.
“… Your arm.”
The voice ringed through and echoed under the small bridge. Santana could only glare. He did not even dare to blink.
“You’re hurt… No, you were hurt..”
It was only thanks to the few humans who ended up walking by the bridge did he manage to understand what he was being told. The human analyzed Santana’s state. He hated being seen so off guard… just who did they think they were, stepping down here by their lonesome?
A familiar annoyance began to settle in his head. Santana huffed, and with slow movement, he began to stand. His body cracked, his bones reasserting itself and trying to snap back into place after how long he spent just sitting down without moving. At his height, he found himself already towering over this primitive lifeform.
“Human..” He croaked out dryly, stumbling and taking a step forward. The human’s eyes widened only a little, and they did not seem to be frightened enough to flinch backward. With ease, Santana has already pushed his body faster than any normal reaction time, and his hand ended up on the human’s face.
He needed to eat. He needed to regain his strength.
All it usually took was a few seconds for the skin to break through and let him absorb the human into his skin… but when Santana tried to feed, instead of the sweet taste of rich blood there was a disgusting, horrible rot that filled his body.
He hissed, crying out as he pulled back and nearly fell back. He eyed the.. thing, as it stumbled backwards and brought a hand to its face. It seems like they were both stunned. Santana’s odd suspicions were correct. He was dealing with something completely unnatural.
The creature’s body began to bloom into something strange. There was a bright, glowing blue that spotted against their cheek. All Santana could do was stare. Silence had filled the air and time seemed to pass by slowly. He knew he shouldn’t.. but he felt like since this wasn’t a human, for once he could just..
Santana slumped to the floor and sat again.
“… Are you.. a Stand User?” The thing, asked.
Santana stared at it, and he huffed. The creature must’ve understood his confusion, but instead of emotions of anger, fear and distaste, he saw elation.
“You’re not a Stand User? You’re not human either? I never thought other non-humans would exist in Morioh..” The creature started to advance closer to him. Already overwhelmed, Santana grumbled, trying to keep his distance and jumping back onto his feet. He would not let it get close. He would watch, observe, and make his own decision.. he knew he could not eat this thing, but could he kill it?
Should he kill it? Was there even a point anymore?
The creature stopped advancing when they realized he wasn’t interested.
“I.. will admit I do not know what to do in this situation.” It said, slinking back and looking out into the sunlight. It seemed to be assessing something. It stared at the sunlight, and the back at Santana, for what seemed like a few, long minutes.
“Creature..” Santana gruffed out, just barely finding anything in him to speak. “Leave, now.”
Silence fell over them once again. The creature hummed, but it sounded like a strange chirping sound that seemed very odd. It turned away from him, and surprisingly, it left. Santana did not actually expect it to leave. He was already used to a life filled with stubborn, idiotic peasants that refuse to leave him alone..
This was a strange turn of events. It was the only peaceful interaction he had since that day he was thrown out of his sleep and forced to petrify himself into stone. After being left alone, he slumped back down to the floor for the final time.
Santana knew the sun was going to fall soon. He sighed, dropping his head against the brick wall and staring out into the languid scene outside. He should find somewhere else to stay. He should have started hunting as soon as he could… but it felt like something was stopping him from doing anything. He couldn’t tell if it was something physically draining him, or the horrid mental state he felt himself drowning in.
He really didn’t feel like doing anything. He didn’t feel like dying, but he didn’t even want to move from this spot. It was like he was still made of stone. For years it was only listening quietly, and thinking. No moving, no sight, no breathing. So what should feel like freedom only feels like more stone.
For the rest of the day, he just sat there in silence. Despite all his unrest, he couldn’t bring himself to actually rest. It was just a long, uneventful stretch of time as the sky began to fade from a bright light, to something more soft and warm. Santana could hear people walking by him. Or more specifically, the gentle beat of their hearts as they went by. That in itself was luring, and he sat and waited for the color in the sky to die down.
The night is passing by. In his long life of hiding from the sun, he found that even his body would subtly react to the rising of the moon. The chatter he would usually hear had begun to all but disappear. Everything began to go dark, bowing down to the empty night. Santana hummed, sulking out from his corner and rising from his spot.
As if by luck, the moment he decided to leave, he caught a glimpse of a human in the distance. They were alone, stumbling like a fool as they trekked down the street. Santana did not bother hiding himself in the slightest. He left the bridge to itself, basking in the cool moonlight and following behind. There was only a slight distance keeping them astray, and it made him mouth water. So long… It had been so long since he could taste human flesh.
His hand reached out, palm wide open as he tugged the human back into his chest.
“H-Hey! What the hell–?”
The body began to dissolve into Santana’s torso, his body dissolving the meal into him completely. It was simply refreshing. The human thrashed and flailed for its life, as he felt their skin liquify and melt into him. There was a wet gargle from its throat, the sound of gurgling and the satisfying fill of energy in his body. Slowly, but surely, he absorbed the energy, and felt life breathe back into him. Uninterested in absorbing the clothes as well, Santana left a wrinkled corpse.
“Humans.. have changed again.” He muttered, taking in notice of the many oddities surrounding him in the moonlight. The murder meant nothing to him, but he did find a great interest in the strange buildings in his sight. A shop with a window and human figures wearing strange clothes. Strange, parked metal… things near houses with strange shapes.
“Interesting.” He looked inside everything, felt things with his hands and slowly began to read and understand the dialect.
Santana hummed, no longer exhausted and now thinking on his next steps. The lingering feeling of confusion was still there. Technically, he had no place to return to. To go home to Mexico would be idiocy, because he knew Speedwagon Foundation would have their men poke around there. They may even be there now. Truly, there was nowhere for him to go. No people to go to. His stride stopped after how long he walked.
It was strange. He knew no one was around, and yet… He could feel a gaze on him in the darkness. Santana turned his head. There was nothing. It was an empty sidewalk and an empty street.
However, his hunches are always correct. He knew when the feeling he had would lead him somewhere.
“Do not hide from me.” He said, knowing very well that someone was there.
A cold silence went through again. Santana’s brow perked up in confusion, and after a long while he saw one of the bricks in the wall turn blue. His muscles tensed and his eyes widened. The brick… the thing, grew arms and excited from the wall, becoming a rubbery like substance before forming the body of a humanoid. Then, with a sound like rubber pressing against each other, it turned into.. That creature he saw earlier.
Santana’s shoulders dropped. The creature smiled at him and waved.
“Apologies. I didn’t know how to introduce myself so I decided to watch you instead.”
Santana glared and furrowed his brow. Was he supposed to act like this was normal? This thing just.. turned into a brick, which he was certain involved something on levels he was not familiar with. He was so lost in thought, that he didn't even realize that the creature was already closer to him than before.
Fine. He wasn’t sure why he was dealing with this, but he could not ignore his curiosity. He grabbed the creature by the arm, squeezing it and inspecting everything he could see. The thing gasped quietly, but Santana did not care. He noticed that its skin was shining a little. It was a bright, but subtle glow of that familiar blue color underneath the now peachier skin it adopted. He took its ears and tugged at it, feeling it between his fingers. There was no bone there.
“You. You are not regular… what are you..?” He grumbled, mostly to himself as he continued to poke and tug and pull at what he could. The creature’s face turned blue again, and it stopped responding to him.
Fine. If he had to do this himself he would. For a being that can shapeshift into anything, they seem to have a lot of interesting details that they added to their human form. The hair for example. Why put so much effort in making it look so smooth, and to add every individual strand? He took some into his hand, leaned in closed and smelled it. It had a smell of.. metal.
Santana remembered when he was captured by Stroheim, the strong smell of metal in that coffin they had him imprisoned in for the first time. It burned in his nose, and it made it an unforgettable scent.
“Strange…” He muttered, still holding its long hair in his hands. He made eye contact with this thing, who seemed a little bit confused, but strangely.. It seemed very happy. It’s eyes.. They were so bright and wide in a way that made him a bit unnerved.
“Tell me what you are.”
“Oh.. I am Mikitaka! No, wait. I feel as a non-human, you already have the privilege of my real name.”
“Real.. name?” Santana’s eyes glared again. “Did humans… give you a name..?”
His voice went a little sour as he said that. He remembered when he awoke for the first time and Stroheim had named him something ridiculous. Santviento… Really? It was both the name, and coming up with a ridiculous name for the name of his race, his people. Unfortunately he was too pissed off to find anything funny about that. Why was it that people seemed to take so much joy in wanting to give a purpose to something that already has one?
Mikitaka (?) looked confused, and shook his head. For someone who was being greatly prodded at, he seemed.. calm.
“I chose that name. To blend in. You see, Nu Mikitakazo Nshi doesn't go very well with humans. I wanted to do only Mikitakazo, but that didn’t go well either. I did my best to simplify it, but I found that humans seemed to enjoy smaller names, and thus they called me Miki instead.”
What? What kind of name is Nu.. Mikitakazo–? What?
Santana huffed, and let go of Mikitakazo’s hair. Although it seemed better to have a name, a name is not what he wanted. He gripped the creature’s arm and squeezed, looking deeply into his eyes as if he were judging his soul.
“I do not need your name. I need your origins. What.. are you?” His voice was low and unhappy. His teeth were nearly bared and his hand began to press down tightly. There was a stretching sound underneath him, and in an instant, the arm he was holding turned blue and slipped out of his grasp. Santana blinked dumbly.
“I’m an alien.”
Santana did not understand. He felt as if he were learning too many things at once. The alien pointed into the dark sky. Past the clouds, past the stars. Deep, deep into the pitch dark swamp that is space. He understood then that the creature must come from very, very far away. That must mean he traveled such long distances just to get here.
Space. He’s heard that word before. Santana’s mind flashed of a man he knew, with long, curled purple hair carrying him in his arms. Waves of weakness overwhelmed him, and he shook his head. It felt so long ago… and yet it burns in his head so painfully. That hair… he remembered how he took it in his small, fat fingers and pulled on it like it was the most amusing thing in the world. How old was he then? Does that man still think of him? Is that even still possible up there?
‘What..” He croaked out, his voice weak. “Is it like.. space?”
Mikitakazo seemed elated to be asked. The creature hummed, tapped his lip with his finger and spoke again. “Lonely. It’s so vast, and when I left I had to leave everything behind. You sometimes do not even see anything but darkness for years on end.” His eyes seem to glaze over in remembrance, before bouncing back into that wide, strange stare.
“My home is destroyed.. but Earth is nice. Especially this town. It’s friendly.”
Santana could not find himself believing Mikitakazo’s words. He wasn’t exactly fond of the human race very much, so that was already causing a dramatic rift between the two. It wasn't like he minded. Nothing mattered anymore. Everyone was dead.
“Say, why exactly did you come here?” The alien asked, tilting its head again at an angle. Santana felt a bit of shock enter him. For all he knew he was being asked a question he has yet to find a response of. He didn’t know why he came here. He didn’t know anything anymore. All he knew is that he wanted to run away. He wanted to go far, far away from his prison. Now that he’s here, his purpose is blank. Santana did not want to be stone again, but he certainly did not want to die. He didn’t know if he wanted to live a peaceful life. What does that even entail? What is peace?
His lips shuddered a little, and he spoke again.
“I–I don’t know anymore. I wanted freedom.. and yet...”
Mikitakazo’s ears dropped a little. Was that an expression of sadness? He did not know.
“If you don’t mind me asking… what exactly are you running from?” The alien asked, holding a hand against its own chest as if showing humility. Santana gruffed at him, and he felt that chill up his spine as he took his distance again and turned his body away.
“.... You are strange.” He muttered lowly, his eyes gazed out into the floor. He began to question why he was entertaining this being. Perhaps it was because as of now, he was weak. There is no hierarchy, if Santana was nothing but pathetic and frail. He cannot see Mikitakazo as a threat, as anything below him if for all he knew, he was the worst one between them. He was filth, and he could not do anything about it.
Mikitakazo tapped on his shoulder. Santana turned his head and saw the alien giving him.. paper. It was soft, small and it was a bundle of it.
“Here. When I feel upset I always like to have something to eat.”
He did not question why paper would be satisfying to snack on, and he gently pushed the hand away.
“I cannot eat that.” Is all he said, and the alien’s ears dropped. Surprisingly, he was amused, and let out an entertained huff. It was almost like a laugh, but he didn’t feel happy so he didn’t know.
Mikitakazo’s eyes widened when he huffed. A smile spread on his face as if he were proud of himself. He stuffed the paper away and for a while, they seemed to just stand there. After convincing him to sit and talk, the alien went off about everything in his life, from his youngest years until now. Of a system, far, far away in space that thrived of exploration, technology and companionship. Santana could not help but listen, but sometimes his mind would trail off in thought. He just realized that he felt good. It felt a little bit better to be off-guard for a second. He could forget about the lingering cold in his skin. He could forget about the burning sensation of his past, of all the faces he knew.
Just in that moment, Kars’s smile, his scowl, it all disappeared into darkness. The images of Whamuu holding his hand had blurred into obscurity. Esidisi’s loud and grating laugh had muffled and fizzed from his ears. There was only the present as he sat there and let everything in his head wash away, forcing it down until it came back later.
Suddenly, there was a tap on his horns. He glared, bringing himself back into sanity until he realized Mikitakazo was staring at him and studying his appearance again. Santana did not feel anger. In fact, he felt a little better. He grabbed Mikitakazo’s arm and put their palms together. The biological difference surprisingly peaked his interest. Strange. Everything seemed to slow and he felt.. Almost blissful.
“Santana.” He roughed out, staring into the creature’s eyes. “I am Santana.”
Mikitakazo looked surprised. Then he smiled again. He had been smiling so often. Was Santana really that interesting to him?
“Hello, Santana. I am Mikitaka.”
The sun wouldn’t come up for a few more hours. Santana took comfort in that and decided to at least give his fair share of knowledge. So he told everything. He told him everything about the liveliness of Anahuac from the animals and the people. He told him of the people he knew, and even the people he killed. He did not hold back on anything. He destroyed and despoiled, that was his life. He had his independence and used it however he wanted. That was his life. His life was filled with tenderness, but looking back, it was always overshadowed by so much blood…
“Well? What about now?” Mikitaka’s voice cut through his moment of pause. Santana looked at him, confused and a little taken aback.
“Is that what you’ll keep doing? Are you going to live like your past, or will you do something else?”
Santana was.. disturbed. He was trying not to ask himself that question but now, he felt like he needed to. The way Mikitakazo had spoken, the way he asked him how he would live instead of if he wanted to even continue living made him feel a sudden revelation. Like for some reason, he really did have to keep living, and decide what he wanted to do. What did he want?
His eyes widen, and his throat seems a bit dry. His breath hitched as he dropped his head and felt everything come back to him. “I want to see them again.” He whispered, so very quietly. There was a period of quiet, where he felt a deep, melancholic feeling in his throat.
“... But I cannot. They will not come back.. and so I suppose I must… find another way to live.”
Mikitakazo made a garbled sound of excitement. “I know how hard it is to find a new life knowing what you left behind. I did everything I could to find a new purpose here, and to shed my sadness and loneliness of the destruction of my home…” His smile fell a little, but once again, it bounced back. “It’ll come to you… From one non-human to another, there are so many opportunities." Santana took in his offer quietly. When he looked to the sky, he could feel the physical reaction his body had to the close rise of the sun.
“The sun is coming.” He stood up slowly, rising from his spot with ease. Mikitakazo followed him, and started to shuffle into his bag. Casually, Mikitakazo pulled out large bags of blood. Santana stiffened. Where the hell did he get that?
“I did not kill anyone for these. My bag has the ability to make anything I desire. I find it quite useful. This is a replica of the ones they have in hospitals for blood transfusions."
Ah.
The advancement of people in the cosmos truly is something beyond his understanding.
“If you do decide to stay in this town a little longer, eating human beings will no longer be sustainable anymore.” Hesitantly, Santana allowed himself to take the blood in his hands. He wasn’t so sure if he trusted consuming something so.. unnatural. It seems like Santana had a lot more to learn. He nodded his head slowly as thanks, and felt the air shift again with the rising sun. Mikitakazo seemed distressed.
“... Why are you upset?” He asked, a bit amused by such behavior. He was given a garbled noise and the shake of the head. “I am not upset..” Santana rolled his eyes and pointed at the ears that seemed downcast in sadness.
“Your ears are.. frowning.”
Mikitakazo covered his ears. Hm. There’s a word for the strange fuzziness he felt in his chest at that. He just can’t remember.
“... I just didn’t want to impose myself having only just met you. However.. I wanted to suggest.. If maybe, you would feel comfortable taking shelter in my home… there’s a human woman there, but I brainwashed her, so it is completely safe for the most part..”
Santana’s head cocked to the side.
“Then of course, it would be easier for me to assist you, and I feel very eager to ask you so many more questions, and would hate to see you go before I could.”
Santana grunted. He looked behind them, then back at the creature in front of him. He still had his hands on his ears. Perhaps a little bit of company was… something he could indulge himself in for a while. He deserved a moment to rest… and he was not looking forward to hiding under a bridge like earlier.
“For the time being… perhaps I can.”
Mikitakazo’s ears went all the way back up.
“I do not mind.. to spoil myself.”
The air seemed to change for the better around him. Mikitakazo had no issue chatting his ear off, but at the same time, he enjoyed the conversation. It was nice. For once, he could be more in the present than he had before. The colors of a rising sun came to form and he hid away in the shelter that was given to him.
Thankfully, Mikitakazo had plenty of books for him to use, and he was even taught how to use the electrical devices for his own research. It did not take him long to understand how the process of engineering worked after a few days of deep research, and he decided to use that to his advantage. Human evolution has continued, even in the short time he was imprisoned. When he was left alone, Santana could tell that Mikitakazo had a strange fascination with humans by the way his room was orchestrated. There were several history books, anatomy pictures and writings of space itself.
“I’m glad you chose to stay. If you really want to better integrate into a human society you should find as many allies as you can. I could even introduce you to mine!”
It’s already been a few days, and yet he felt their bond get strangely deeper. He didn’t know how to feel about that. Mikitakazo was a wonderful host, but he was still questioning why someone in such a pursuit of good would debase themselves with such a violent individual. Santana shrugged at the thought of meeting new people. His thoughts on humans were tolerant at best, so the idea of meeting others in a sense of partnership was not interesting.
“I do not need human connection. I.. I am fine just knowing you.” He said, huddled in a corner on the floor as he flipped through the pages of a literature book. The prose made him interested, and because of that he was given several others to read from a library. Santana was not sure what a library was, but Mikitakazo told him that he’d show him one day.
“With an attitude like that, you may stay alone forever.”
Santana shrugged his shoulders again. “That is fine. If I must continue to be a stranger to the human race than I shall. They do not interest me like you do. They do not… understand.” He said, his composure still relaxed. Mikitakazo made a garbled sound and his ears fell. Was what he said not appropriate? He couldn't change his outlook on the human race so easily. As friendly as he may be told they are, they were still small, little beings whom he could not respect.
Mikitakazo does not seem to like that very much. It made him.. slightly upset but he could not help their differences. He did not understand why the alien had such a fascination for a species like that, but it was fine. Unfortunate, but fine.
He wasn't sure what would happen to him by deciding to stay here. It seemed like this town had a lot of strange aspects about it that seem almost unlimited. Santana just thought it felt nice to have some kind of order in a way, to have a purpose after seeming so incomplete. It felt relieving in a way, and he could tell that Miktiakazo noticed it, because the environment between them became a lot more.. relaxed. It was in part from their experience being so common, and in the fact that Santana knew Miktiakazo was very docile and frankly, did not appear like a threat at all. His battle experience was.. scarce.
Perhaps that was for the best.
“Strange..” He muttered to himself, catching his own thoughts like he didn’t even know they existed before. Mikitakazo looked at him and cocked his head.
“I don’t think… I have ever cared for anyone… or their environment besides my family.”
Santana closed the book and gave it back to the creature, who slowly reached out and took the novel in his hands. There was a silence, a grateful silence that allowed him to think for a moment.
“Mikitakazo.”
The alien let out a chirp and turned to face him.
“It is nice.. to know that you are safe here.” He said, and surprisingly, he felt a stretch on his face that almost seemed akin to a smile. Santana has not smiled for anyone in a while. It felt like a breath of fresh air to be comfortable enough to even do that. Mikitakazo’s eyes widened a little, and then he smiled back. It seems like his message was understood. He was thankful, so incredibly thankful.
Yes. This was the right decision for him. He was thankful to find someplace to lay his head. To be in the presence of another being who understood him, who held the same curiosity that Kars’ had once praised him—and then shunned him for. The memories and the years stuck rotting will always be with him. Even if he was in better company his emptiness and deep disregard for living was still there.. but for now, it seemed surprisingly temporary. Surprisingly.. everything is slightly okay.
Perhaps one day he might leave… but for now, he is fine calling this place a shelter for him to return to every time, to know that against everything, he had someone to return to.