under construction || vanitas; vanitas no carte

seven.

The large, shadow-like creature devoured the artificial humans within seconds, and it was time for its next meal— the group in the lab. Vanitas had explained what the malnomen was. Prédatuer, 'the shadow,' and it was enormous. To make it even worse for them, weapons had no effect on the creature.

Just then, the shadow reached out one of its 'arms' and flung Vanitas against a wall. The impact caused the man to gasp in pain before hitting the ground and falling unconscious.

Noé and y/n jumped over the many pipes and rushed towards their friend, who lay unmoving on the cold surface. The white-haired man bent down, shaking the male to wake him. "Vanitas! Please, you must get up! Vanitas!"

The chasseurs were busy advancing at the creature despite none of the attacks working. Thankfully, Vanitas wasn't out for long and slowly lifted his body to sit down. Relief washed over the duo's faces, and y/n placed a hand on his shoulder, urging him to get off the ground. "You need to pull yourself together—"

"Send Roland and the others out of the room." The blue-eyed male spoke as he clutched onto his hair in grief. He looked miserable and lost. "Once the shadow consumes the life of the curse bearer, it'll disappear on its own. We can just keep it shut in the library."

"You mean you can't save it...?"

"It's too late anyways since we don't know how to tear the curse bearer out of the shadow. There nothing we can—"

"Not yet!" Noé exclaimed in determination, looking at Vanitas. "I don't want to give up yet!"

"Vanitas." He began again and turned to look at the rampaging monster. Whatever he was about to say didn't seem like it was going to be good. The mentioned male stutters a 'what,' turning his attention to the speaker. "What do you think the inside of its mouth is like?"

The two stared at Noé, absolutely livid that he would even think of that, let alone word it. The white-haired vampire's thoughts were simply horrid: enter the curse's body and get to its bearer. The plan was a gamble with a higher chance of loss. And it wasn't a monetary loss either. Vanitas did not seem up to it because who would be?

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! If it eats you, you die!"

Precisely, the female nodded proudly in agreement. Thank god Vanitas had common sense though he did not look it.

"Stay there if you're scared. I'll do what I can myself."

"Hey, wait, Noe!"

"What are you?" Noé challenged. He knew it would get to him as someone who promised to save the curse bearers. "Why are you here right now even though you went through so much pain to get here?"

Although Vanitas looked moronic to y/n, she had faith that he would reject Noé's strategy until—

"Ugh, shut up! I'm a doctor, and I'm here to save vampires!" Vanitas shouted as he glared at the curse bearer.

The girl took her words— well, thoughts— back almost instantly. The two were definitely insane—  more than she thought. No rationality, no logic, no sensibility, no common se—wasn't she thinking up synonyms at this point? Her point was: they were simply stupid little monkeys who did not value their lives. Of course, monkeys are actually intelligent, but the point came across.

Nonetheless, she knew she had to cover for them. But then again, from what? The creature they had just planned to serve themselves to? Nevermind it. It's not like she could stop those fools. "We'll cover for you guys, so go ahead." The female informed as she glanced at them with a clear 'what the actual hell' look before moving away to help Roland and the others. "Roland, bring it down!"

The four dispersed the multiple legs of the creature to bring it to the ground so Vanitas and Noé could 'offer themselves to the beast.' Although the girl made quite a few statements regarding their stupidity, she only did so to lessen her worry. What if they didn't make it back?

It had only been about 2 minutes, but y/n had begun to panic, "oh my god, what if they died—" Her heart rate quickened, but she couldn't stop moving just yet; the creature was still thrashing around, attempting to capture them for devouring.

Suddenly, the creature turned to a cracked stone and quickly crumbled to the ground, revealing Noé and Vanitas lying on the floor with a small boy and another individual a bit further from them.

"Noé! Vanitas!" She ran up to them, and relief washed over her.

Noé gasped for air, "I thought we were dead! Sorry, I said all those naive things a while ago!"

"I tried to warn you!"

"Barely..." Y/n grumbled. There was a pause, and not long after, laughter erupted from the two. From all they've been through today, this was needed. Y/n smiled at the sight and turned away to look around the lab.

A few pipes suddenly burst, and soon, the lair began subsiding from the top.

"Run for it!"

Σ(ﾟﾛﾟﾉ)ﾉ

Roland assured them that the chasseurs would take the curse bearer to count Orlok as it was the church's problem. However, due to the commotion, chasseurs would soon arrive, and the three needed to escape before they could be captured for questioning.

Without warning, the captain hugged the two men. Noé seemed pleasantly overjoyed while Vanitas...it looked as though he had just been assaulted. However, the hug lasted merely a few seconds before the blonde-haired man released them.

"Although I'm a bit awkward with hugs," y/n started, her arms crossed as she looked at the three. "I do feel a bit sad that I'm being left out."

The highlighter burst out laughing and pulled the girl into a hug, earning a grin from her. Before she could return the affection, a pair of arms tugged her away from behind and wrapped her protectively. "As you said, we need to get going now!" Vanitas spoke between clenched teeth and glared at the Chasseurs captain. The others could probably see the light tint of pink on y/n's cheeks, and she silently prayed god would take her at that moment— or whoever would be able to if not a god.

Noé looked like he'd catch on within 3-6 business days while the chasseurs understood what had just occurred. But then again, Noé was cute like that, and y/n was glad he didn't know what had just happened.

"Yes! You're right!" Roland broke the tension.

The black-haired male let go of y/n and grasped her hand instead— a now familiar gesture— and the three 'intruders' left immediately to ensure they escaped on time.

Once they were out of the catacombs, Noé collapsed to the ground, mumbling about having missed the sunlight. Y/n had to disagree. The sun was too bright, and she didn't like it.

Vanitas also allowed himself to fall to the floor, which caused y/n to stumble a bit due to their interlaced hands. He then rested his back on Noé's for support and stared at the girl's hand in his. "I'm tired." He mumbled to no one in particular and gently pulled on her hand, bringing it to his lips to kiss her knuckles. "I just want to sleep."

At this point, y/n's stomach was doing summersaults, and she suddenly crouched. She curled a free arm over her face to cover the blush dusting her cheeks. How could he be so nonchalant about this? What had gotten into the man? She was positive he enjoyed it but was too tired to comment on her behavior.

"Ah, me too. But I want to eat first." Noé agreed, unaware of what had occurred behind him.