Chapter Text
Furious swipes hit the walls as the maniac swung his claws; the sound of metal grating through concrete made Zanka want to pull his ears till they were nothing but bloody stumps.
"Come onnnn man, stop dodging already! I wanna feel your blood on my skin." Another swipe to his head almost made his silent wish a reality, and suddenly he remembered how nice having the ability to hear actually is.
"piss of already!" Assistaff connected with the purple guy's side and practically bent the man in half. But the fucker came back again, stronger.
"Ouwwww, do that again. I could feel that all the way down to my toes! What a thrill." Zanka cringed. What the hell is his problem??
A claw came quickly from the side; when had he moved!? It clipped his hand on the side and splattered blood straight onto the raider's face. A small drop fell from his eyebrow and rounded around the corner of his mouth... and he fucking licked it. A content, thrilling noise came from the guy, and Zanka's face grew a little hotter.
"Has anyone ever told you your blood tastes like Ethylene Glycol. So sweet~" Zanka's feet froze to the ground for a few seconds, shocked and strangely hot. The raider clearly saw this as an opportunity to bring a finger up and wipe some more blood away, licking that up as well.
A shudder made his hair stand on end and a bead of sweat relocated from his chin to his collarbone. His knees buckled suddenly. "What the hell?"
Falling to the ground should have hurt more, but the only sensation he could feel currently was the cold floor and a simmering that occupied his entire body, strongest around the cut on his hand.
The guy chuckled, "Oh yeah, I forgot to say. I stung you with a poison, nothing that's gonna kill you, don't worry. It has just enough of a kick to make sure you'll be real good for me"
Zanka's bangs blocked the main view he had of the guy, but when two fingers, noticeably without claws, made their way to move them, it brought a warm hand as well. "Whew your real pretty, you know that? If I had the time id take you with me instead of that ugly ass kid"
"Fuck you- don't touch him." The raider smirked; he sat down on his knees, almost joining Zanka on the floor. Their faces were inches apart, but it felt closer; their breaths mingled in the proximity, and despite the hatred fueling his body it sure as hell made no effort to push him away.
"Tell you what. I'll leave you here for now. I know, I know, I'll miss you too," Zanka scoffed. The guy's smirk grew a little, and he nodded as if confirming something in his head. "But~" He moved his face away, picking up the blond's left bloodied hand.
Having a raider take his hand wasn't on his bingo card for the day, let alone having his hand held so gently. But he couldn't say it was the most unpleasant thing in the world. The guy was warm; he smelled nice, and Zanka could feel his head getting heavier by the second.
There was a cooling sensation around his ring finger; he couldn't see what it was, but it felt firm. The raider cradled it for a moment, looking down at the hand he was ever so gently cuddling. Zanka's eyes were as open as possible, fighting desperately to see what was happening to his numbing body. To no avail.
"I'll catch you later, alright? Mr. bad attitude." The guy giggled like a maniac as he dispersed into shadows right in front of him.
The silence was loud; a cold presence around his ring finger was louder. It took far too long to regain any semblance of control over his body again.
It started at his toes, the least affected part of his body, being the farthest away from the wound. Way too slowly it moved up, until he could finally make himself blink. It took another few minutes before he could move his feet and attempt to get up. He had to scale the walls to stand up, and every step felt like someone was yelling into the DNA of his anatomy.
But he made it in time. Rudo was trying his hardest, with some kind of big ass pendant behind him; it lokey looked a little like the praying item Gris carried around to missions. Zanka watched as the pendant protected Rudo against the purple raider; he was actually doing pretty good for only his second unofficial mission.
Zanka watched for a little more, trying to assess the situation from the sidelines. When the time was right, and he could consistently move his shoulders with no tingle, he decided to move in. Together him and Rudo fought off the guy for a while, but he's fucking insane.
Rudo's new vital instrument has been floating Zanka around for a hot minute, smashing this purple freak to bits, but he just won't give up.
"Oh hey, it's Mr. bad attitude!" SMASH.
Rudo finally put him down, and he tumbled backwards, straight onto his ass. This whole fight is gonna leave him black and blue for days; the ache is already coming in hot."I think that finally did the trick… everything hurts"
The few seconds of silence felt like a reward, until Rudo started being all noisy.
Zanka could just about see the scene in front of him if he moved his head up enough. The giant pendant thingy was turning to dust; it shocked him for a moment.
'Does his vital instrument put a time limit on his weapons….? Or is there more to it'
The kid started tweaking or something, whole body twitching and being weird. "Hey... it's not the end of the world." Was he really that sad over something so basic-
Rudo fell to the ground, exposing a sliver of skin at his hip, or what should have been a sliver of skin. Blood pooled from a wound there, and Zanka nearly rolled his eyes to the back of his skull. Of course.
"Gawt DANM y'all are fun!" He looked back. "I mean, I was out for most of it, but judging from the fact that the only one upright, unconscious me went crazy!"
Purple guy started walking. WALKING.
"Hold up, there's no way you're standing up right now. I just beat the shit out of you." The Meknes in his voice would haunt Zanka for months, but right now he was far too shocked to care. "What the hell is up with this?!"
The man walked up to his face again, crouching down just close enough for Zanka to see the guy smelling the air around them. He took a deep breath before speaking, way too nonchalantly for the big ass whiff of air he hadn't bothered to hide taking.
"You can thank my left claws." He put his hand up to show off the shining metal attached to each of his fingers, except for one. Hidden away between the towers was one naked finger. Zanka wondered what happened to that one, but he didn't care enough to ask. Too shocked by what had just been said to him.
"What, no way, those things can heal you?!"
"What! nah man, you crazy~!" He laughed. "These claws can't heal nothing... you see." He brought a finger up to the corner of his mouth and pulled slightly. Slicing open the corner and making Zanka watch as a steady stream of blood pooled out, it looked dark and thick. Zanka couldn't stop himself from wondering what it would taste like, before mentally smacking himself for thinking it. Freak.
He didn't hear what the guy was saying to him then, too busy looking from his mouth to his glowing purple eyes. At least, until the guy fucking stabbed him again, straight in the back. What the hell.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a kid to nap. Don't wanna get chewed up for screwing up a mission again." As the raider walked away, he left behind the image of bloody scents and warm touches.
Zanka wasn't all that aware of what was happening after that; he knows Rudo got taken, but he was too useless to do anything about it. He knows the raider said bye before leaving, waving at him like an owner would to their pet before leaving for work.
He didn't see the way said raider sniffed the air one last time. Or the way it almost made him drop the kid on his shoulder in favor of the pretty cleaner he'd already claimed as his own.
Zanka laid there for what felt like hours, waiting for something, anything. But when nothing happened, his body apparently decided that this was the perfect moment to take a nice relaxing nap. So he fell asleep on the cold ground, lonely and completely dead to the world. One less cleaner in the world, all because of him.
'I'm such a shit teacher'