Vanitas × Noé

TBH I just want to hurt Vani

No. No. No. No. No. NO!

Noé could barely form another coherent thought as he watched the blood pouring from Vanitas's face. He reached out and dragged Vanitas away from the cursebearer's massive claws but he was already too late. The damage was done. He was the vampire, the one who was supposed to take the worst of the damage. Because he could take it. So why? Why was Vanitas crumpled on the floor behind him, clawing at his eyes. Noé didn't understand where he went wrong. Vanitas would never make a mistake like that in a situation like this. So it had to be Noé's fault.

"The book!" Noé felt bad for giving Vanitas orders in the state he was in but he couldn't save the vampire on his own. Vanitas needed to use his power.

Vanitas complied, scrambling blindly while Noé held the cursebearer back. With some effort Vanitas managed to stumble to his feet and open the book, ending the matter with a familiar flash of light. As soon as it was over Noé turned away from the now-healed-but-unconscious cursebearer to see Vanitas bent double and breathing hard.

"Vanitas!"

As he approached Noé could glimpse Vanitas's gritted teeth under his curtain of hair. Vanitas had one hand tangled tightly in said hair and covering his eyes while the other held the book limply. He looked ready to keel over at any moment. Noé reached out slowly, to avoid startling Vanitas, and curled his hand around the wrist tangled in his hair. Noé waited until Vanitas's grip loosened then gently pulled it away from his face.

Vanitas took a steadying breath then lifted his head to look up at Noé, a pained smile on his face. Noé couldn't tell how to react when he saw the damage. The blood made it difficult to tell how bad it was but Noé knew somehow that this would be a permanent injury. The claws had slashed right across Vanitas's eyes, blood dripping from his eyelids and cheeks. Under the blood his right eye looked like it might be alright, despite the cut running across the skin surrounding it. His left on the other hand... It had been punctured and punctured deep. Noé didn't know much about eyes but he was fairly certain Vanitas's was ruined.

"I'll carry you back right away! I'm sure we can ask Count Orlok for help, you'll be fine! Just stay calm."

"Noé, we still have the cursebearer to deal with. Grab them and then we'll walk back to Orlok."

"But aren't you in pain?"

"I've had worse, besides the adrenaline hasn't worn off yet." Vanitas fumbled a bit as he grabbed onto Noé's upper arm, his voice wavering, "now lead the way, I can't see shit."

Noé felt that Vanitas should be more concerned about his situation but resignation was easier to deal with than panic. Though from what he'd seen Vanitas tended to shut down completely when he was panicking so maybe Vanitas wasn't as calm as he seemed. Either way Noé wanted to respect his wishes and slung the cursebearer over his shoulder. He wished she would wake up but at least she was small, to the point of being less of a burden than Vanitas usually was.

The walk felt long to Noé so he couldn't imagine how long it felt to Vanitas. Noé found his eyes constantly drifting to Vanitas, almost to make sure his injuries were still there. Vanitas didn't look at Noé, not that he'd see anything even if he did, but clung tightly to his side on relied on Noé for warnings about their surroundings. When they reached Orlok's office Noé didn't bother knocking, he just kicked the door down, nearly earning him Manet and Nox's claws embedded in his chest. Luckily they realised who it was and pulled back before they could do any damage.

"What's the meaning of this!?" Orlok boomed.

"I'm sorry!" Noé exclaimed. "But I brought the cursebearer and Vanitas got hurt and I don't know what to do."