The grey world didn't just disappear
It glitched.
The figures of the students cracked through; the faint ringing of the school bell slipped into the space. Mitoma's gauntlet shrieked, the barrier between the vacuum and the real world switching back and forth. It was as if the spaces went static.
"Initiating: Shatter Space."
The space between them glitched from grey to blue. Luke's heart hammered violently as his body released a silver stream.
His breath hitched.
'Damn it, of all the times to wear off. Why now?' Luke's thoughts overwrote his pain briefly, but the veins on his left arm bulged, remains of Vera's demonic energy leaking from his pores.
A bead of sweat trailed down his right cheek; it touched Vera's cold palm. She withdrew her hand immediately, only to see a small burn mark on her pale palm. "Buchou, you need to let go… please." Luke rasped as he begged her to remove her hands.
He knew the Holy Water he was sweating out would hurt her more if she didn't.
But she didn't care.
Vera's fingers dug into the blood soaked blazer. Her face dropped, her bangs obscuring her dark violet eyes. "Shut up." She ordered. Her voice was shaking despite her command, " y… you don't get to decide that. Not after making me bleed for you. I said to let me stand in front of the door, so let me."
Luke froze at her words. Aside from Sora and Miku, this was the first time someone else saw him, not the Ghost. Her touch still lingered, her cold trembling palm was present, irritated by the Holy Water Luke's pores were releasing. But Vera didn't let go.
"It'll keep eating your skin if you stay," Luke rasped. His eyelids were getting heavier, begging Vera to let go.
Vera pressed her fingers harder on the blood soaked blazer. "Let it eat then, I am a Morningstar. We don't fear the light. We devour it, and no light will keep me from my Vassal."
The hairs on Luke's body stood up, an unfamiliar warmth went up his skin. 'She's burning up,' Luke felt the tender coldness of her palms leaving her body. The silver steam had entered Vera's pores.
Luke could hear chatter of students through the school, and the bell becoming louder. The sound of a school day let out an echo, so low, the barrier between reality and vacuum peeled itself, becoming a broken puzzle.
But the silence between the others seemed to make the "distraction" useless.
Vianne's gaze went to Ignazio. The golden eyed Knight sheathing his sword as the pressing gaze of the magenta eyed Vice crept from behind.
Ignazio didn't face her, his grip tightened on the hilt shaking the black-gold scabbard.
"What do you plan to do, Vianne?" Ignazio challenged, "we both know she doesn't yield her possessions that easily."
"It doesn't matter what she thinks Ignazio," Vianne responded in her voice, a near whisper. "You can hold a grudge if you want, but we don't have all day. So put that pride of yours to bed and let's help them already."
"Extraction in sixty seconds, brace yourself. This won't be fun." Mitoma said, the circuits in his gauntlet sparking suffocating the space with a deep cobalt dust. The mundane chatter of students filled the shattered vacuum.
The shatter didn't last long enough—it wasn't over, but something "human" intruded.
"Onii-chan? Where is he? Sending me to the cafeteria and he doesn't even show up. Hmph!"
"Miku." Luke's body stiffened at the innocent voice of Miku from the cafeteria hall, she was still at her table waiting for him. His adrenaline spiked, pushing himself up immediately.
But that was as much as he could manage. Even though he stood up his legs were still locked in place as if he stepped in dry cement.
Luke's legs were useless, two static pillars of salt barely holding him, but Vera didn't wait for him to save himself. She stepped closer, locking her fingers on his shoulders pressing her body behind him. Luke's body arched lightly, the velvet sensation of Vera on him stopped him. The sound of Miku's frustrated voice drifted away into the dust.
Vera's shallow breath touched his ear, Luke loosened his clenched fist slowly. "Don't look at her. Not the school. Focus on me, Luke," Vera whispered, her voice possessive—not commanding. Luke shook, still wanting to follow Miku's voice, but another part of him wanted to stay with Vera.
Luke's fingers still moved begrudgingly, moving toward his sister. But his willpower couldn't override his stagnant body.
Ignazio looked at the gap, he drew his blade and planted it on the ashen track field. The golden sword bled its aura into the vacuum, a wall of golden stability covered the space blocking the sound of the student's chatter and Miku's voice.
Ignazio turned to Vianne, "I leave the rest to you, Vice."
"Way to put me on the spot, Ignazio. But thanks for that." Vianne let out a sigh as she stretched. "Alright then, Ao-kun could you pick up the pace?" Vianne inquired, her tone sharp and authoritative; the cobalt momentarily distorting at her voice.
The sound of Miku was a phantom of itself, faintly heard from the other side of Ignazio's wall.
Mitoma roared his gauntlet sparking, "Shatter Space ending in 3, 2, 1…"
The cobalt dust settled, and the smell of the school cafeteria was replaced by the scent of lilies and expensive wood. Luke's vision spasmed, his Apostle Eyes instinctively overlapping colours from gold to silver.
Luke's knees hit the floor–not the ashen track field of the vacuum, but a violet rug so thick it felt like a cloud. The lily scent was heavy, entering his nostrils. His fingertip met the purple wool, blossoming a gold stain.
He expected Vera to riot, to look at the damage to her sanctuary, but her hand traced over his back as her fingers gently pressed over his vertebral column. The burn on her palm pulsed, an irritated lava red in the dim amber light of the chandelier.
"The vacuum is closed, Luke," she whispered, her voice cracking as the burn on her palm flared. She pressed harder, anchoring him to the mansion floor. "Stop trying to be a soldier in a battle that just ended. I am your Master, and I'm telling you, at ease.
She leaned closer, her lips barely touching his ear as the scent of lilies drowned the metal odour of his silver steam. "Rest, my dear Vassal. That is your Master's order.
Vera's command "at ease" was the final trigger. The salt-stiff pillars of Luke's legs buckled. His balance vanished, and his body followed the pull of the violet rug falling like a statue.
THUD.
It wasn't a soft fall— but the dead weight of a soldier who had finally been given permission to break. His forehead hit the plush wool, the gold stain blooming outward from the impact.
Vera stood over him, her hand hovering just above the space his spine had been a moment ago. Her fingers were still curled as the lava red burn on her palm pulsed followed by a jagged Thump in her chest.
The deafening silence of the mansion lingered, until it was interrupted.
Not by an enemy.
But by the aftermath of an extraction that cracked a school.
Cobalt dust bled into the room igniting near the heavy oak doors, the nitrogen smell of Mitoma's extraction cutting through the lilies scent.
As the mist settled, the silhouettes of the others materialised—Ignazio, Vianne, Mitoma, and Kiyomi, their shoes clicking against the polished wood as they stepped into the estate.
Ignazio stopped first. His golden eyes swept from the slumped, golden-silver stain on the violet rug up to Vera who was clutching her breast bone, her knuckles white against her blazer.
"Vera-sama?" Ignazio's voice was a low vibration, his hand instinctively moving towards the hilt of his sheathed blade.
Vera straightened, her hand dropping from her chest as if her heart didn't feel like it was being stung with multiple silver needles. She didn't look at them; she kept her gaze on the boy who had just ruined her floor.
"Ignazio. Pick him up." Vera commanded, her voice regaining her cold, lethal edge. "Our Vassal is out of commission."
She looked toward the corridor of the East Wing. "Take him to the end room, Kiyomi, go with Ignazio. You're the only one who can stabilise the mess he's leaking.
Ignazio hoisted the dead weight of the unconscious Luke over his shoulder. His jaw tightened at the vinegar odour of Luke's blood and sweat–the silver steam caught onto the gold embroidery on his suit. His sulphuric aura fought back as faint sparks of gold and silver crackled in the foyer.
Ignazio sighed, "even in this state, he manages to be a pain." He turned to Kiyomi, as the heavy thud of his boots pressed on the violet wool—he advanced toward East Wing Kiyomi followed behind him leaving a faint trail of her snow white hair.
As the oak doors of the East Wing shut–the deafening silence of the foyer returned. Vera didn't look at the shut door, but at her reddening palm. She let out a shallow breath as Vianne's piercing gaze met her back. The chandelier above them let out a faint chime, echoing like a sigh through the silent room.
Vianne saw her tension shoulders, and shaky legs. She knew what it was. "You're doing it again Vera, and I'm not convinced by your acting,"
"I…I don't know what you mean by acting, Vianne." Vera lied, her pale skin and weakened body had already betrayed her words.
"As expected from you, always stubborn even after Luke-kun made you look vulnerable. And all it took was "Resonance", so tell me–what exactly do I mean?"
Vera didn't answer. She knew what Vianne was doing, but she couldn't admit that a Vassal managed to make her bleed. She turned–her sharp violet gaze met the piercing magenta of Vianne's eyes.
"He is my Vassal. My possession. If the Vatican thinks I stole their property, so be it. But my covenant won't break for anyone. Luke Kazama belongs to me."
Vianne's fierce gaze softened lightly, but it wasn't Vera's claim over Luke that convinced her. She stepped closer to her, taking her cold–burned hand, "you say that, but... you can't hide the fact you're just as contaminated by him as he is by you."
"Your resonance doesn't lie." Vianne finished.
Vera gasped as her legs finally gave out falling face first into Vianne's arms. She wanted to move, even run—but her physical limit wouldn't permit her to stand.
"That's why I tried to tell you. You're too stubborn, Vera," Vianne sighed, kneeling down on the purple wool with her.
"I don't know what's worse," Vera whispered into the fabric of Vianne's shoulder, her voice barely a tremor. "The fact he made me bleed for him... or that he left his light in my soul."
Vianne smiled, "I can't be sure, but knowing our Luke-kun. I can't put my finger on it, but he is an unusual Vassal.
The mansion was quiet, but the light in Vera's soul sung.
It wasn't loud—but it wasn't silent either.