The whole situation was rather surreal to Chuuya. A few hours ago, he'd been stuck in a sinking prison, courtesy of Dazai. Now, he was a vampire, surrounded by two people that should have been his enemies, and one of said people was trying to braid his hair. "Why is your hair so long on one side, but not the other?" Nikolai said, like this was a personal slight somehow. Nikolai frowned, and yanked Chuuya's hair to the side, trying to make it look right. Chuuya didn't flinch. Dazai pulled his hair all the time, after all.
Nikolai finally decided on pulling Chuuya's hair into a half ponytail, and letting the rest flop to the side. "It's far from perfect, but it's a mess of your own making." Nikolai said with a shrug. "Someone who cuts his hair like that deserves for it to look weird." Chuuya frowned. Chuuya didn't think his hair looked weird. "I like it." Chuuya said, and reached up to touch the sort of ponytail. No one had ever played with Chuuya's hair before.
"Where do you think Fyodor went?" Chuuya asked. Nikolai cracked a small smile. "He's off to talk to his sister. If he's lucky, he'll be gone for about half an hour." Chuuya blinked in surprise. He didn't know it was possible for someone to remain on the phone for so long. Nikolai shrugged. "After what happened at the airport, I'm sure she'll have a lot to say."
Fear lanced through Chuuya at the thought. He had only been present for what happened at the prison. He had no idea what had happened to his titans friends. "It was a whole mess." Nikolai said. "Fukuchi was the main villain, but of course, we knew that already." Chuuya hadn't. "Anyway, it was chaos at the airport. People getting turned into temporary vampires left right and center, apparently. I kinda wish I'd seen it for myself, to be honest." Nikolai seemed to realize that Chuuya was upset here. "It's okay. None of your friends died. One of them got kind of decapitated, but the agency healer put it back on, so he's fine."
Chuuya was as reassured as he could be by a comment like that. "Thanks." Chuuya said, unsure of what he was supposed to say to something like that. "Hey, when Fyodor's off the phone, do you want to come up with a list of errands for him?" Nikolai asked. "We can't leave the house because of the whole desire for human blood stuff, but I need candy. Also, you need new clothes." Chuuya frowned. "What's wrong with my clothes?" He asked. First his haircut, then his clothes. What else about his appearance would Nikolai have a problem with?
"Nothing." Nikolai said. "You just almost died in them, that's all. I wouldn't want to wear the clothes I almost died in." Now that Nikolai said it, Chuuya wasn't sure that he wanted to wear the clothes he almost died in. He hadn't had a problem with it before Nikolai said it. Now, the thought of it sort of made Chuuya's skin crawl. How had Dazai infected him with the poison? Which part of these clothes did he subtly pull away, moving just enough that Chuuya was poisoned. How soon would it have happened if Fyodor hadn't saved him?
Chuuya checked the pockets of his jacket, not thinking he'd find anything, but also highly anxious of the possibility that he would. Chuuya's insides turned to ice when his fingers closed around something that he knew he hadn't left there. "What?" Nikolai asked, sensing immediately that something was wrong. "There's a paper of some kind in my pocket." Nikolai frowned. "Well, even if it is poisonous, it can't hurt you now." He said with a degree of confidence. They were vampires, after all, and nearly invulnerable. Whatever Dazai had done, it couldn't be too bad.
Chuuya slowly pulled the paper out of his pocket. It was a note, clearly in Dazai's handwriting. Chuuya's blood ran cold when he read the words. "Here lies Chuuya Nakahara, my close and trusted friend, and my ultimate betrayer." Chuuya looked at the note again and again, trying to find some hidden meaning in the lines. "Huh." Nikolai said flatly. "I think that means he really was trying to kill you." Chuuya rolled his eyes. He'd figured that much out himself.
Chuuya knew he was safe. Logically, in the back of his mind, he knew he was immortal and almost invulnerable. Dazai couldn't hurt him anymore. But Chuuya couldn't help but feel scared. What had he done to make Dazai so angry with him? Chuuya hadn't done anything bad before he'd refused to drop Sigma anymore. Chuuya couldn't help himself. Through the whole thing, nothing Nikolai or Fyodor had done had made Chuuya cry. But it was the thought that Dazai hated him enough to kill him that brought tears to Chuuya's eyes.
"I'm sorry." Chuuya said, and started to wipe the tears away. "I'm pathetic, aren't I? Crying because someone tried to kill me, even though they didn't succeed?" Nikolai shook his head. "I had someone like that in my life before as well. I thought I loved him. I was wrong. It was only after I met Fedya, and saw what true love was like, that I understood how toxic my previous relationship was." Chuuya shook his head. He didn't think it was like that. "Dazai's not the problem. I'm just not good enough."
Nikolai crawled over, and wrapped his arm around Chuuya's shoulder. "Dazai tried to kill you." He said. "Because I messed up. I didn't listen and he got mad. I'm just supposed to do what he says." Nikolai wiped the tears from Chuuya's eyes with the edge of his thumb. For a vampire, his skin was surprisingly soft. "You are worth so much more than that." Nikolai said. "You're definitely good enough. You have the strongest ability, after all, but that's not all you are. I haven't known you for very long, but you seem like a nice guy. You got all worried about your friends, after all. I can almost guarantee you that Dazai isn't having the same concerns."
"But he's part of the agency. He was the best member of the mafia. He's saved the city multiple times. Everyone thinks Dazai is the best." Nikolai frowned. "And that makes it so much harder. Sometimes good things happen to bad people, Chuuya. It's not your fault that the world sees him as good." Chuuya shook his head. "Not everyone." He said, remembering the look of terror on a young Akutagawa's face when Dazai shot him, supposedly trying to help him strengthen his devoured space. "Well, at least that's something." Nikolai said, but it was cold comforts.
"Sigma." Chuuya said. "I left him alone with Sigma." Nikolai sighed. "I hate to break it to you, but Sigma's not going to wake up. He tried to read Fyodor's memories. That's too much for any person to take in. Not even Dazai would be able to fix something like that." That made Chuuya sad. He didn't know Sigma well, but hated the loss of an innocent life. "How is Fyodor killing Sigma not like Dazai trying to kill me?" Chuuya asked. Nikolai raised an eyebrow. "You doubt your savior, eh?" He asked, sort of amused. "That's okay. I did too at first."
"Sigma was in league with Dazai. He was in on Dazai's whole plan to kill you. Once Fyodor deduced that, he didn't take it overly well. But he gave Sigma a choice. Sigma could follow Dazai's, and try to read Fyodor's mind, or he could do the decent thing and walk away." Chuuya knew which option Sigma had chosen. In a way, he really had chosen his fate. But still. He was basically only three years old. Chuuya knew what it was like to be created from nothing, and only be a puppet on someone else's string. No matter what moral decisions Sigma had made, his final legacy shouldn't have been dying as a pawn for Dazai.
"Look. None of what happened was your fault. You did nothing to deserve this. The only person to blame here is Dazai. Understand?" Chuuya shook his head. He'd have a hard time believing that. "You're safe here, Chuuya." Nikolai said. "Take the time you need to heal. And then start planning revenge." Chuuya blinked in surprise. "What do you mean?" He asked, not quite sure he'd heard that right. "I say we take the fight to Dazai." Nikolai said, with a wide grin splitting his face.
Chuuya sat there, unsure he was heading this right. Or whether he was even considering going along with it. "Dazai is incredibly clever." Chuuya said. "He's going to be mad that I'm not dead. And he's going to be hard to fight." Nikolai smiled. "That's just fine. I'm going to be pretty hard to fight as well." Chuuya shook his head. "You don't understand. Dazai...it's like he's not human. He's a demon." Nikolai's smile widened when he saw Fyodor approaching, looking like he felt lucky to be alive. A phone call with Teruko would do that to a person. But he looked ready for a fight, and that was what Nikolai and especially Chuuya needed right now. "Good thing we have a demon of our own."
