Chapter Text
After nearly an entire month of fruitless solo missions, it had become increasingly clear to Isagi they were all worthless. The first time felt like a gentle introduction to his new reality but by the third he knew he had been caged. Every patrol through each safe zone had felt like a loop dragging him right back to where he began with nothing worth reporting. In each return from these missions, Isagi was simply sent straight back out without so much as a word of constructive criticism. A few times, he had tried to question the lack of challenges in his missions yet every question was met with the same answer “ They are tailored to your skill level”. Isagi knew they weren’t actually tailored to his skill level. Why was he being sent on patrols he knew are usually assigned to just competent members of Haven? Isagi had a dragon and he was supposedly on their team; it was almost like they refused to believe in his abilities.
They had only found Isagi a month prior, newly bonded with his dragon. The team could only take his word for it that he was easily adaptable. Assuming they would trust him from the get-go in a fight for their lives had always been only a pipe dream. Yet at this point it seemed pure ignorance that they weren’t allowing themselves to discover whether or not his claims were true. One mission where he could face a sizable hoard, to prove his skills would satisfy him. But they wouldn’t do that. That opportunity would never come. They didn’t trust him.
Light steps carried Isagi forwards with the necessity of being soundless so as to not attract any unexpected furious zombies while he scanned the streets of the safe zone. From what little signs of life that were encountered so far in the four hours Isagi had been out there, he had come to the conclusion that the frequency of the scout assignments may need a few adjustments. With only 6 zeds killed (rather swiftly if you asked him) and one survivor directed to Haven, Isagi believed that he was fairly justified in that opinion.
Due to the other members' annoyingly accurate observations of his skills, Isagi had unfortunately found himself being placed on scouting duty. This positively exhilarating assignment entails perusing around already confirmed ,relatively, safe zones where his only tasks are to either eliminate any zombies that had wandered in or locate other survivors in search of safety and assist them in making it to Haven. It wasn’t a hard task at all and that’s what truly frustrated him. Four hours of his most likely to be short life spent on an assignment that wasn’t mandatory for at least another few weeks or so. That time could have been spent with the rest of his new team gaining valuable combat experience. To be quite frank Isagi learned best on the front lines of it all in fact that’s where he thrived. Not being forced into tasks so easy they bored him to death. How was he supposed to improve if he never had a challenge?
Walking into an endless amount of buildings, checking every room they had to offer, in a matter of 10 minutes had him counting the seconds till his return.The only reprieve he had from the monotonous searching was when he came across shops, as they offered obstacles that zombies could hide behind adding a bit of challenge to fully confirming they’re safe. Shops much like the one currently right in front of him. In all technicality Isagi absolutely did not have to clear the drugstore before him as it was the first building that counted as being outside of the safe zone; meaning he had fully cleared the area. Now he could simply call Robusutā down from circling above him in the skies and begin the 30 minute flight to Haven but Isagi had been oh so bored. Plus adding another building to extend the reach of the safe zone although insignificantly small would make him feel far more accomplished.
Glass crunched beneath his boots as Isagi approached the shattered glass door carefully, pistol raised in front of him muzzle tracking wherever his gaze roamed. Removing one hand from holding his gun, Isagi pressed against the metal of the door, careful to avoid the jagged glass and with some resistance swung it open. Whipping to his right returning his hand back to the gun, he quickly scanned his flank for any surprise zeds before turning to his left-
Click.
Isagi froze in place.
The cold metal of a gun's muzzle was pressed into the side of Isagi’s head before he knew it, an unknown person now in his space, leaving no room for him to even attempt to look at the other's face. “ Drop the gun” A voice tinged with -was that a German?- accent ghosted over his ear as he tried to get a glimpse of his assailant. The crash of Isagi’s own gun hitting the cracked tiled floor resounded throughout the store, hands rising in the air; a clattering sound forced his gaze to turn to the gun now sliding away from him after the mystery man had kicked it. With a grimace turning his attention away from the gun, Isagi took in what little he could see of the man stood far too close for comfort. Allowing his gaze to roam, he quickly noticed the survivor was rather well built and obviously much taller than him; hand to hand combat wasn’t looking like a likely fight he’d win.
The pitter patter of liquid hitting the floor caught his attention causing his gaze to flit from the man next to him, instead to the where the noise originated. On the splintered tile beside the mystery man's foot was a small pool of blood forming that had trickled from his arm. So he was hurt then, Isagi’s eyes slid to the man's arm and probably in need of some medical attention by the looks of the deep gash splitting his skin apart.
Stood rigid, gaze fixed on the mystery man’s arm -was there ink etched into it?- Isagi opened his mouth to speak “ I’m not hostile “. He paused taking a breath, so far so well there wasn’t a bullet in his skull yet, before continuing “ In fact maybe I could help you out with that- “
“ Where are your medical supplies? “ Having spoken those words the other had begun sifting through the multitude of pockets Isagi had, allowing his array of knives to hit the floor, completely disarming him of the last of his weapons. Wasn’t that just great. Mr handsy had probably also now smeared blood on his uniform woohoo. With the mystery man’s hand quite invasively feeling around for any more pockets, it arose a few questions. How would his assailant know he even had any medical supplies and with the little pocket space Isagi had on his uniform why would the man think he had any in the first place?
Now any normal person would be screaming at him right now to simply call down the reptile of doom from the skies to cook his assailant alive but Isagi was a bit smarter than that. If he were to say, call down Robusutā for one, Isagi would absolutely be in the way for a surprise blast to the face and secondly Robusutā isn’t exactly small so absolutely wouldn’t be able to sneak in behind. Attempting any of these attacks would result in allowing his attacker to easily make him a hostage and put them both in a tricky situation. Last of all he was out here to help people even the ones that aren’t the most friendly, not turn them into a sizzling corpse.
Isagi frowned, opening his mouth “ Well I was about to ask if you needed help with that before you rudely interrupted me ”. Daringly, Isagi decided he was going to chance turning his head to take in the mystery man's face. With his movement, his assailant took a step back out of Isagi’s space, gun still raised, bleeding arm left limp at his side. This allowed him to fully take in the others' faces. He was beautiful that was for sure, with strong features and dazzling sky blue eyes; although oddly framed with a peculiar hair style of blonde with royal blue bleeding into it halfway down. Only he seemed to be able to make such an objectively horrible hair cut look good. Gaze returning to the mystery man’s arm, Isagi was curious to find out if the blotches of black beneath the blood hadn’t been his imagination after all. Ink trailed up his arm as thorned vines growing out of a crown on his hand, disappearing beneath his shirt, reappearing as blue roses on his neck. Back before the outbreak Isagi bet women and men alike would fawn over this survivor for his attention and probably still did if they came across him.
With Isagi’s pause, the mystery man deemed it a good time to speak “ Take a picture, it'd last longer “. A devious smile spread across the other's face as he raised a questioning eyebrow at Isagi which only served to irritate him. He mentally took back any compliments he had given his attacker.
A tick of annoyance caused Isagi’s eye to twitch, forcing him to make his own quip “ I was just shocked at how atrocious your hair looks “. Muttering what sounded similar to the word childish under his breath, the mystery man rolled his eyes. Now Isagi wasn’t forced to stare at an arm; it made him realise a few things. First of all, why was his attire so similar to his own? What Isagi was wearing had been specially made for riding dragons and efficiently storing only the essential items he’d need on him at all times. Maybe this mystery man took inspiration in creating his outfit or maybe liked to travel light? Or maybe he-
“ Are you going to help me or what? “ The mystery man's voice cut through Isagi’s thoughts, bringing him back to the situation at hand. Isagi had a fairly advanced medical kit stored on Robusutā’s saddle but getting it out and attempting to help this survivor may prove quite hard given how short and untrusting he’s been. Well then it seems he would have to rip the plaster off and reveal himself. Although anyone could have probably guessed who he was affiliated with if they were aware of the factions and their uniforms.
“ I’m a dragon rider from Haven, my medical kit is stored in my dragon’s saddle “ Isagi stated, prepared for any sort of reaction at the very least, only to be greeted with complete indifference. The man simply gave him a blank stare. Mildly flabbergasted, Isagi didn’t really know what to think. Was he just brave or stupid? The mystery man did have the upperhand but come on really? No reaction to the massive flying lizard of doom?
“ Okay then go get it “ The mystery man paused before continuing, uncaring of the fact that a dragon was somewhere in his vicinity “ but I’ll be right behind you so any funny business and a bullet’s going right between your eyes “ The other voiced growing slightly more rushed with the expanding pool of blood beneath him spreading. With the rate of blood being lost, anyone in his place would be growing frantic with worry.
With a quick look of concern Isagi turned around, before mentioning “ I’m Yoichi Isagi by the way “ and turning back, stepping carefully between the shards of glass scattered on the floor, unaware if the mystery man was following or not. Fingers meandering towards his lips, Isagi let out a high pitched whistle; wandering onto the street alone.
Robusutā descended quickly from above, the flap of her wings wafting loose debris in all directions, landing directly in front of them. Isagi put his hand on Robusutā’s snout to get across; he had the situation under control even if there was a gun pointed at his head. The dragon before him didn’t seem all too convinced with her eyes narrowed in poorly concealed contempt. With his dragon now before him, there were a lot more options opened for a potential escape but all seemed far too risky for him. Using Robusutā as a meat shield could end up in disaster and obviously her significantly hurt as well as trying to take out the mystery man only being a needless hassle. Although Isagi wasn’t exactly thrilled with being technically a hostage, helping him and keeping Robusutā out of harm's way seemed much more appealing.
With his mind made up, Isagi tugged at the storage pack attached to Robusutā’s saddle and reached inside to feel for the familiar handle of the medical kit. “ Michael Kaiser “ The no longer mystery man revealed rather suddenly. This made Isagi pause in thought for a second, the name sounded familiar enough to bug him slightly but all in all he was far too busy to figure out why. Although the connotations of the name ‘Kaiser’ did interest him. Finally, he pulled the medical kit out of the pack without much effort and took a swift step back from the dragon. Isagi wanted Kaiser to trust him enough to at least treat his injury for him as he severely doubted it was a good idea to let the other do it himself with his current state. So with that thought in mind, Isagi gestured to a very confused Robusutā to return to the sky in a single flick of the wrist. Looking between Isagi in front of her and Kaiser in the doorway of the store, a perturbed Robusutā reluctantly decided to trust her rider and raised her feathered wings to take off into the air.
Medical kit in hand and Robusutā high in the sky, Isagi spun to face Kaiser who now was gracing him with a look of confused shock. “ I did tell you I wasn’t hostile “ It was now Isagi’s turn to tease with a smarmy smirk etched proudly onto his features. With Isagi’s approaching steps towards the entrance of the store, Kaiser retreated further inside, lowering his gun into its holster. Oh?
“ I really didn’t understand what your problem was at first but I think I do now “ Kaiser spoke suddenly, eyeing Isagi carefully as he made his way into the store stepping over both the glass and pocket knives strewn across the floor. This made Isagi raise his head from cautiously avoiding the various sharp obstacles in his path with narrowed eyes and a downturned mouth about to open. Before he could even form a word, a hand was gripping his chin pulling him forwards off balance and directly into Kaiser. “ You don’t know anything do you, Yoichi?” Whispering with a grin flashing his canines, Kaiser obviously seemed to know something Isagi didn’t. Leaning practically his full weight on Kaiser, Isagi grabbed his shoulder (keen on avoiding Kaiser’s injured arm) for purchase with one hand and the arm holding his chin with the other trying to shove off of him.
“ Let go of me or else I’ll reconsider being kind enough to treat your injury “ Isagi threatened, struggling to push off of Kaiser. What was this man's grip strength? He didn’t really want to even attempt to understand what Kaiser said. It made no sense, what could he possibly know that Isagi didn’t. The smile on Kaiser’s face dropped to be soon replaced with one that was perplexed.
Kaiser let go of the other, dropping his hand to his side gazing at Isagi with a renewed look in his eye before stating “ Why on earth would you treat my injury when I could just do it myself and be gone”. To Isagi it was clear as day as to why he couldn’t just let Kaiser get on with it himself. There were multiple concerns actually. The man stood before him didn’t seem to share the same sentiment.
Lowering himself to the floor, Isagi sat cross legged, opening the medical kit and grabbing the equipment needed with a sigh “ You’ve lost a fair amount of blood meaning you absolutely won’t be able to stitch that up yourself without making a possibly fatal mistake “. He considered him for a moment, Kaiser then reluctantly lowered himself to the floor before Isagi. “ And making a mistake - even a simple one - could end up in you bleeding out “ Isagi spoke casually, scooting closer to Kaiser and reaching out to grasp his injured arm. In a rare show of trust, Kaiser simply let Isagi do as he pleased, allowing his arm to rest in the other's lap.
Isagi began with applying pressure to the injury as he wiped away blood and grime, using a bottle of sterile water to flush out the injury of any debris to avoid trapping it inside once sewn up. After having successfully cleaned the injury without any protest from Kaiser, Isagi now had a much clearer view of the damage. For starters the cut was clean, no jagged flesh that would be a bother.