Monster (xMale!Reader | FIC)

Chapter Seven: Departure?

The stale, now dry and brown pool around him reeked of something metallic. The scent burned his nostrils constantly, and his eyes darted around frantically. This wasn't a part of what he'd seen coming. The itching, searing fear eating him from the inside was never considered. His eyes switched between human and ghoul-like unevenly.

He smelt blood and blood meant food — but that was his blood. It was his, and it just reminded him of his oncoming death. His body was attempting to heal. He was too weak, not enough nutrients, not enough energy, not enough of anything. This was the first time he had wished his ability to heal would just go away. All it was doing was dragging out his pain.

At least he'd get to die with the thought that he had helped someone else. The ghoul that had been struggling previously was safe now, uninjured and fed. He wondered if the other would remember anything about him when he woke. He had been delirious the entire time he'd managed to stay awake. Would the ghoul remember his mask? He doubted that the ghoul would remember the small flash of his face he'd seen.

He heard his window bust open violently. He hadn't had the energy to flinch or jump in surprise and instead accepted his fate. The CCG would have found him eventually whether or not he had died at that point. This was the end of him, and as his previously active eyes settled and remained human, his crazed breaths calmed.

A feeling of peace and acceptance fell over him. Everything was suddenly quiet. There was no more of his heart thrashing. No more of his mind's wailing. The loudness from the window vanished, and he could only feel the vibrations of the floor as the figure approached. He couldn't bring himself to process the person in front of him, but the last thing he did before everything went black was smile.

It was a pitiful sight, really. The acceptance of it all was truly woeful. The way he seemed unfazed by everything in those moments, it left the figure in front of him sick. Those lifeless brown eyes looked as though they had seen and done it all. Behind those brown walls, though, there was this hopeless rush of despair and melancholy. Those lamenting brown eyes filled with black and red one last time before his eyelids fell shut.

┈

"Where exactly are we going?" Itona asked. "this guy sure does live close to campus."

Nagisa ignored his friend's sarcasm and kept jumping from the rooftops and going through alleyways. If he was honest with himself, he knew that he was probably going to stumble upon something traumatic. It had been a little over a week now, and realistically, Yamaguchi had probably died within the first forty-eight hours. All four of them had accepted the fact that they'll probably walk in on a decomposing corpse. Maybe bringing Isogai along was a bad choice.

"I'm pretty sure it's close. I recognize the area enough."

"So you're not completely sure where we're going either? You should have at least called Nakamura."

"She's busy. Besides, his place is right there. The window is still open."

Deep down, that made Nagisa want to gag. If the window was in the exact same position it had been when he left that night, then there was a possibility that Yamaguchi had never gotten up close it — or do anything else. As the four of them stopped on the fire escape, Nagisa's last bit of hope plummeted into the black pools of tar he called his mind, possibly to never be pulled out again. I'm not prepared for this.

"Nagisa, are we going to go in?" Karma asked.

"You've just been standing there, and we don't need to look suspicious," Itona said.

Nagisa didn't respond verbally and slipped through the window. He chose to ignore how Isogai had been uncharacteristically quiet during this whole thing. He'd been put in charge of holding the food they'd brought, courtesy of Itona. The brunet wanted to gag at the sight before him.