The Black Parade

Blood

It had been a week or so since the incident at Lisa's house and Koutali sat alone in the kitchen after serving dinner. Victor was in the infirmary wing of the Manor getting the bullet holes in his back taken care of, and the two hadn't spoken since the whole debacle went down. Koutali couldn't shake the guilt he'd managed to accrue over the past few days, unable to forget the feeling of the weight of Captain's revolver in his hands and the look Victor had on his face when he turned around.

At the very least, he saved Lisa, even if it was by a matter of seconds. He wasn't about to let someone else die due to his action - or inaction. But...he still felt bad. There was probably a way to resolve the whole thing without violence, but what happened, well, happened, and there wasn't anything anybody could do about it now.

Still, Koutali felt bad. It was time he went and visited Victor. So, he finished cleaning up the kitchen and made his way across the Manor, stopping once he'd reached the infirmary where he saw Victor lying on his stomach with bandages on his back. Koutali walked up to the side of the bed and sat down, frowning at the scars that crisscrossed Victor's lower back.

"Victor?" he asked. Victor shifted a bit with a wince, turning his head to look up at him.

"Oh. It's you."

"Despite everything, yes. How are you feeling?"

"I'm not actively in pain anymore. So that's good."

"I, uh...came to apologise. You know. For shooting you."

Victor buried his face in his pillows again and grumbled.

"Why didn't you let me do it?" he asked.

"I already told you. Lisa is the only one that knows how to keep me alive. Sure, you may have done some work on me too, but...she has years and years of notes at her disposal. Not to mention all the stuff she has in her head." Koutali replied.

Victor didn't respond.

"Look. I didn't know what else to do in that moment. I tried telling you to stop, but you didn't listen to me. You brought this upon yourself."

"You should have aimed for the head. I haven't felt that before."

"Victor."

"Koutali."

Koutali sighed, running his thumb under the base of his faceplate. Victor turned and looked at him again.

"Perhaps I was too hasty. There is nothing she can do that I cannot, but there is knowledge of combining man and machine that I do not have. Perhaps I shall become her protege, and then when I know everything...I take care of her. As I promised."

"Victor!"

"Then we both get what we want."

Koutali buried his face in his hands, groaning.

"This is about someone's life, Victor. I'm not going to let you play like some kind of cat in a canary cage."

"Do you know how long it has been since I've gotten the opportunity to taste real, human blood?" Victor asked. "It's like...it's like how you are with chocolate!"

"I don't think it's like that at all."

"Hm."

Koutali sat there for a moment, resting his chin on his palm. There wasn't really any solution to the problem he could think of, and Victor did have a decent idea with learning all of Lisa's knowledge through being an apprentice of some sort, and he was immortal, which meant Koutali didn't have to worry about death by rotting his guts out and falling apart. As long as Victor was alive, there would be someone around to maintain him, which meant Lisa was useless. Then Victor could--

Koutali shook his head to clear his thoughts. He couldn't think that way, not when somebody's life was on the line. He sort of felt a pang of guilt.

"Come on, Victor. I give you all the extra blood left over from cooking and stuff. You don't need to kill Lisa." he said finally.

"This is about more than feeding myself, Koutali. This is about revenge." Victor replied, shifting a bit in the bed, wincing again. He managed to get himself sitting up, picking at something in his teeth. "I must complain about just how boring it is here. I hope you're proud."

"I'm not."

"Well, I am. You finally stood up for yourself."

"At the cost of shooting you in the back. Three times."

"Call it water under the bridge. I'm past being angry about it if that makes you feel better."

Koutali breathed a sigh of relief.

"It does."

"Was that all you came to do? Apologise?" Victor asked, stretching his arms.

"Well, yes. But it seems like you need the company." Koutali replied.

"They don't let Admiral in here. He's too big. And something about not having cyanide in a medical setting. Damn neurotoxins."

"Yeah, that'll do it."

"You wouldn't happen to have any non-formaldehyde filled blood in you, would you?" Victor stood up from the bed. "I'm finding myself to be rather peckish."

"You are weird."

"Oh, please. Do you mock a fish for swimming? Or a bird for flying?"

Koutali didn't answer.

Then, suddenly, as one of the nurses approached to tell Victor to lay back down, he grabbed them by the shoulders and bit into their neck. Koutali's jaw dropped as he watched the nurse fall to the floor, and Victor turned around and faced him, wiping their blood from his face.

"I'm the kind of human wreckage that you love!"