bsumone | ❝ Shine on friend, goodnight ❞

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❝ Shine on friend, goodnight ❞

{ why, then, the darkening of the light? }
💮 laurent choi 💮 elyas kim 💮

Laurent senses something wrong before he awakens for the night. Elays isn’t there. His precious fox isn’t laying beside him, peering at him with those eager eyes for him to wake. Nor is there any sign of him in the room. None of his familiar scent, none his footsteps sounding through their home. Nothing.

Something’s wrong.

Even as he wakes, Laurent’s straining to listen for his beloved. The one who’s always beside him to greet him with his stories of the daylight life every night. Every night, without exception. And yet he’s not here. He’s not even skipping toward the house having been distracted by some pretty flower or smile or an adorable child to whom he could tell his stories.

The vampire strains his sense, stretching out further for something… Elyas’ steps, his scent, the familiar beat of his heart. Nothing. Laurent pushes through the haze of consciousness, the desperate lingering cling of his unnatural sleep. Alarm helps him claw through it until his eyes are clear and he’s throwing back the blankets and the heavy draperies around the bed. He’s climbing his feet on instinct alone tearing across the room.

These modern times are nice in that no one will look twice at a man in his pajamas out in public. Especially when said pajamas are a pair of loose-fitting sweatpants and a t-shirt. His shoes were by the door, so Laurent simply stepped into them, grabbed his jacket, and stepped into the freshly darkened world to find his eternal lover. He’s so intent on his task that Laurent doesn’t even notice the light snow dusting the world and falling around him. Neither heat nor cold trouble him terribly. And now he’s too full or worry bordering on panic to care.

Vampires are predators at their core with the heightened senses to make them deadly. He follows the paths he knows from Elyas’ stories of his time in the light and, eventually, catches his scent. As it gets stronger, Laurent also notes something else in the air. A lingering odor of rot and decay.

Fomorians!

Even as strong as aged creatures like he and Elyas’ are, fomorians are a danger. One-on-one they could survive, but those most monstrous of creatures tended to roam in packs. And given their strength, facing more than one at a time is practically a death sentence.

Maybe it’s Laurent’s imagination since he’s been dead for such a long time, but the spike of anxiety that grips him makes him sure he can feel his heart racing.

Masked beneath the scent of death, blood – Elyas’ blood! Oh, Laurent would know that scent anywhere. A thousand years apart and he would still know it and every other thing about his gumiho. He doesn’t care that he’s running and that, very soon, he’s moving at inhuman speeds. The snow pelts his already cold skin, making it sting, but does nothing to deter him from his quest.

And then – there! In the distance just ahead – he finally lays his hunter’s eyes on the fox. His fox, his beloved Elyas, lying under a lone flickering streetlight bleeding into the snow. Before Laurent can blink, he kneeling at his lover’s side, tugging his jacket off to cover his shiver frame. From the looks of things, there had to be more than one fomorian involved. Elyas is fierce when he must be.

Laurent barely feels the sting of tears in his eyes over the burning anger in his dead heart. The wounds are grievous, but Laurent presses his hands to the worst in an effort to staunch the bleeding. It’s surprising those monsters didn’t tear the gumiho apart. Something must have distracted them. The light, perhaps? They often took them out, preferring to hide in the cover of darkness. Had this one come back on? Had this inanimate thing being Elyas’ savior?

Well, Laurent may be weeping, but his eyes were still sharp, scanning the area for any more attackers. They didn’t smell close and he sees no signs of movement to the horizon.

“I’m here, my love. I’m here.” Turning his full attention back to Elyas, he tries to ascertain whether or not he can move the fox. Well, he could move him, but it’s more a matter of keeping him in one piece. It would be of no help to his beloved if Laurent picks him up only to have his guts spill out on the earth. None of the wounds look big enough for that, but his blood-soaked clothes make it hard to ascertain. It’s a risk Laurent has to take. He can sense death lingering close, ready to claim Elyas. Not if Laurent had anything to say about it. Scooping his fox up in his arms, Laurent breaks into that unnatural run to get him away from death and danger.

The night staff in their home is minimal. But they’re alert when the door swings open and Laurent is barking out orders. Lights, hot water, towels, a needle and thread… Yes, he’s going to stitch Elyas up himself.

By the time he caught their scent, it had already been too late. A predator in his own right, his senses are good, but not nearly as sharp as those of his love. They can be confused, worked around in one knows what they're doing. With the ability to shapeshift which usually allows him to walk right up to his prey unhindered, the sharpest of senses have never been a necessity for the gumiho. But that meant he was unprepared for the fomorians to attack him. They were already on him by the time he knew they were there. Had he had a chance to get home, to get to Laurent, there would have been a chance for the fox. Together with his vampire, he can take on most things. But on his own, he was easily overwhelmed.

Elyas isn't sure what made them stop, why they ran off just before they'd finished ripping him apart. Why not take out the last flickering light? Why not simply drag him into the dark? Why just leave him bleeding and dying alone in the snow? Why must he suffer? If he has to die alone, why does it have to be slow and agonizing?

He presses his hands to what he feels must be the most grievous of his wounds, but he doesn't have enough strength left to even slow the bleeding. He has to, though. He has to hold out just a little longer. Then sun will be down soon and Laurent will be waking up. Elyas has to hold on just a little longer so he can say good bye.

Resting his head back against the lamppost, Elyas closes his eyes. He'd been trying to watch the horizon, trying to watch the last of the sunlight disappear but he's already getting so tired. Tired from the fight, the cold, the blood loss, from his own approaching death.

"I'm sorry we couldn't be together forever." He's sobbing now, his normally warm cheeks freezing under his own tears. His tears aren't for his injuries though (he doesn't feel those anymore) but rather for the fact that he'll never see Laurent again. He promised to be by his vampire's side until the end of time and now he has to break that promise. Even at the end of his own time, he won't get to be by Laurent's side. His love will wake up, searching for the fox who is usually eagerly awaiting the the moment he so much as starts to stir, only to find him having died out in the snow, out on the street like some common animal.

"I'm sorry."

By the time Laurent arrives, Elyas is slipping in and out of consciousness. He's barely aware that his vampire is by his side, that he gets to say good bye after all, until Laurent speaks. His voice manages to cut through the fog that's descended on the poor dying fox. His head lolls to one side and he pries his eyes open just enough to look at Laurent's beautiful face. Ah, so his final moments won't be spent alone after all. Now that he's here though, something in Elyas almost wishes he wasn't. He doesn't want Laurent to have to watch him die, but he can't send him away. Not now. Not when he's spent so long crying for Laurent and wishing he would appear before him.

"I didn't think... I'd get to see you again..."

He rests his head against Laurent's chest and closes his eyes again when he's scooped up out of the freezing snow. He doesn't want Laurent to have to suffer with him, to watch the life drain out of his fox, but there's something so poetic about his life ending in the arms of his eternal lover. Yes, this seems like a much better place to die.

Laurent cradles Elyas close the entire way back to their home. Their warm, safe home. He felt so cold in the vampire’s arms. It wasn’t right to see Elyas like this, so weak and frail and fading. Once he had the gumiho laid out in their bed, Laurent realized he wouldn’t be able to save Elyas on his own. Even with his preternatural speed and sight, he’s sure there’s something internal that might keep bleeding even if he manages to sew up every wound he lays his eyes on.

If he could just keep Elyas alive long enough… Among the orders he barked to the staff was an order to call Dr. Vess. She’s well known among their community. Not only for her work, but for her discretion. She doesn’t ask questions.

Laurent could only hope the cold outside slowed Elyas’ bleeding down enough to keep him alive until she arrives. That isn’t to say he sits by idly until then. No, he’s taking the items he asked for from the staff: hot water, towel, a sewing needle and thread. He passed the needled through the flame of a lighter and threaded it to begin stitching his precious fox’s wounds closed.

“Please stay with me,” he quietly begs as he begins to work. “Just hold on a little longer, Elyas. Please hold on longer.”

His focus sharpens until nothing else exists but his dying fox. The weak body he’s trying to patch up despite his lack of any true medical experience. Time goes soft around him and he’s honestly not sure how much has passed. But Elyas is still breathing – if only just – when the sound of unfamiliar footsteps coming toward the room alerts Laurent that the doctor is here.

“You may want to step outside,” she advises.

“No,” Laurent snaps. “I won’t leave him.” If Elyas must die… Laurent will be at his side until the end. There’s no changing his mind. Not now, not ever.

“This won’t be easy.” For Laurent to watch or for Elyas to experience. Reshaping one’s very flesh and bone is an excruciating process. And without them being at her clinic with a few machines that might help her see any internal injuries better… All she can do is search for them herself… by hand. Which means reaching into one of the larger wounds to feel around inside Elyas’ guts.

It's a good thing a little blood and gore never put Laurent off. He and Elyas have been tearing others apart for centuries. But it hits differently when it’s his beloved Elyas whose body has been torn into with tooth and claw. Anxiety lances through him and he can imagine his dead heart pounding. It isn’t, it’s long dead, after all, but Laurent’s fear is such that he remembers that long distant time when his pulse could race and his heart beat like bird wings in his chest.

Ah, not only does he not have to die alone, but he doesn't have to do so out in the cold either. He usually loves the snow almost as much as the springtime but today, the snow seemed so cruel and unforgiving. It muted the whole world around him. The silence created by the blanket of snow just reminded him of how alone he was. It muffled his cries for help and his pleas for his love to find him. Just one last look upon his vampire's ethereal beauty before he passed from this world into the next. But the snow was cold and unfeeling. It didn't care about the poor dying fox.

So at least he doesn't have to die alone in the cold.

Elyas manages a soft, almost peaceful smile when Laurent lays him on their bed. He barely recognizes the room around him, but he'd recognize the feel of the bed anywhere. The soft mattress and warm comforter. The strong smell of his vampire who'd not long before been peacefully asleep in these very sheets. Peacefully slept while his gumiho was being torn apart. He shouldn't have gone out. Laurent's waking would have been just as peaceful had Elyas just stayed home. He'd planned on just staying home tonight, but decided on slipping out last minute. There'd been enough time for him to get to town and come back before Laurent woke up. He's not even sure anymore what was so important to make him change his plans. Whatever it was doesn't seem so important anymore.

Watching as his vampire works diligently through half-lidded eyes, Elyas reaches out to lay a bloody hand on Laurent's forearm. He barely feels the needle pass through his flesh again and again as Laurent works tirelessly. But to what end? The fox will die here, after all. Laurent isn't one to give up so easily though. It's one of the things on an endless list that Elyas loves about him. He wishes Laurent would give up though. Just this one time. Give up on this fruitless endeavor and simply hold the fox until he's gone.

Sorry, Laurent, that your fox was foolish and now your last moments together have to be spent fighting a losing battle.

Elyas musters all the strength he can, but manages only to gently squeeze Laurent's arm in an attempt to momentarily pull the vampire's focus from his task. "Kiss me, my love. Please... One last time." One last kiss to remember him by, but also one last kiss to pass his fox bead off to Laurent. He'll beg his vampire to swallow it so he can die on his own terms and leave a piece of himself with Laurent forever. His dying wish. How could Laurent possibly refuse? It's perfect. It won't be those monsters who took his life, then, but rather he'll have given his life to Laurent. It's perfect.

He's barely made his request, though, when the doctor enters the room. Dr Vess. He'd never met her before (he's usually much better at healing on his own than this, after all), but he's always wanted to. She'd always been described as a little cold, not terribly personable, but he'd been certain he could coax something different out of her. He'd heard she's a cat lover, after all, and what is a fox if not a cat in a canine body? Unfortunate that he'll never get the chance, however. This is to be their first and last meeting and he's in no position to make nice.

Elyas gasps and his eyes open wide when the doctor reaches her hand into one of his wounds. He didn't feel the needle, but he certainly feels this. Even the smallest twitch of her hand brings with it fresh waves of pain and discomfort like he's never felt before. "Stop. Stop," he begs, practically sobbing the words as he reaches for Laurent's hand. Must he really suffer until the very end?

The doctor was right. This isn’t easy to watch; to see the agony spring anew to his beloved gumiho’s face, to hear him pleading for an end to the pain. While Galen doesn’t acknowledge the fox at all, Laurent rushes to his side with that preternatural speed. Not only is he on the other side the bed in a heartbeat, he drapes himself beside Elyas. He clutches Elyas’ hand and pressed cold kisses to his cheek and jaw.

Squeezing his foxes fingers between him, Laurent – proud, arrogant Laurent – pleads, too. “Please endure it, my love. Please don’t leave me alone.” Wetness dampens Laurent’s eyes, tears spilling over until his precious gumiho is little more than a blur of too-pale skin and shocking red hair. Reaching up with his free hand, he cups Elyas’ cheek. Too cold, his beautiful fox feels too cold. It prompts him to move closer, earning a sharp glare from the doctor.

“Please endure it, my love,” he repeats. “She’s trying to save you… I need you to live, my darling Elyas. Eternity ends with you…”

Yes. If the doctor couldn’t save him… Laurent would see the sunrise one last time. He would join his beloved in the death, that much Laurent knows. A life without Elyas, a world without Elyas in it isn’t a life or a world the vampire wants to exist in. No, he would rather seek out oblivion than be without Elyas. No other would do. They didn’t before and they won’t again if his fox should perish.

“I’m here, Elyas, please fight for me…”

Galen’s barely cognizant of the private moment happening before her. No, she’s far too focused on her work. Besides, whatever lovers have to say to each other is none of her concern. It takes some effort for her to seek out injuries she’s unable to see, to use her gift to sew the tiny arteries and veins together once more in an effort to stanch the internal bleeding, to recreate the chunks of organs the Fomorians cleaved from the gumiho’s body. Everything hidden inside much be repaired before she can even think of stitching muscle and skin together once more.

Time is of the essence. She works quickly, tirelessly, ignoring whatever pain her ministrations cause because she knows – when all is said and done – that what she’s doing will save his life.

As long as she stops the bleeding first.

The seconds stretch long, the minutes even longer. She’s hyperfocused on her work. Elyas would easily have bled to death long before now if not for the cold. That is, perhaps, what spared him long enough to allow her time to work. Even with the vampire lying beside him, Elyas isn’t warming quickly and the blood moves more slowly.

That gave her precious few minutes to spare. But those minutes are probably the purest agony her patient’s ever felt until it was finally over. Insides intact and the skin that was shredded now perfect and smooth once more. Seamless. Scarless.

“I’ve done what I can. He should be safe now.”

Elyas' one request, were he able to make one at this point, would be for Laurent to live on without him. A cruel request but this whole situation is cruel. Death is cruel. The death of that which should live on forever. Because he's still certain he won't get back up again. He's sure he can feel the repairs that the doctor is doing inside of him, yet he's not sure it'll be enough. He feels he's too far gone for it to make a difference.

So his one request would be that Laurent live on in his absence. Without Laurent, who would remember him? Who would he live on through if not for his vampire? He would understand if Laurent refused to fulfill the request (where the roles reversed, he couldn't do it. He couldn't live without the man he loves. Try though he might, he knows it would end in failure), but he'd still make it if he could. If he could form coherent thoughts and verbalize them. But he's beyond speech. He's beyond anything but pained cries.

Elyas writhes in pain and clutches at Laurent's hand as though digging his nails into his beloved's skin can lessen some of what he's going through. He would do anything to minimize some of the pain so he can die in relative peace. Were he given a choice, he would simply ask that Laurent hold him until the end. Make his last few moments the best they can possibly be. But that would mean asking Laurent to give up on him and that's simply not something either of that would stand for.

Actually, were he given a choice, Elyas wouldn't be in this position right now. He wouldn't be laying here, howling in pain and waiting for death as Laurent weeps over him. He would not opt to have the doctor elbow deep inside one of his wounds were he given a choice.

He isn't sure how long he spends lying there with the doctor reaching around inside of him, but it feels like that time stretches on forever. It feels like an eternity passes before the doctor speaks again, before she seems to indicate that she's finished. 'Done' is all that he can really make out. Does that mean she's finished her task? Or is this truly the end for the gumiho? Is Elyas done? Is it over for him? He isn't able to inquire further, though. He manages nothing more than a soft, pained 'Laurent' before he passes out.

"I'm here, my love," he whispers back. Elyas is probably unconscious by then, but Laurent couldn't ignore his precious fox. He pays no mind as Galen leaves to wash up. One of the night servants sees her out without a word. She knows she's done what she's can and the rest is up to the gumiho. His wounds are healed. There is nothing more she can do.

Laurent, however, doesn't move from Elyas' side. Be it minutes, hours, or days before Elyas wakes, the vampires remains glued to his side. He murmurs quiet encouragements, whispers his love as if speaking to a simply slumbering beloved.

Even in the infinite darkness of Elyas' unconsciousness, there's Laurent. There's no telling if it's actually Laurent that he's hearing or if it's merely his subconscious conjuring up the voice of his beloved because it knows that his ethereal creature of the night would thrive in this kind of darkness. He belongs here, in the infinite black, in Elyas' conscious and subconscious mind. He belongs with Elyas, no matter where the gumiho finds himself. Even here, in unconsciousness.

For the first three days, Elyas doesn't move. He lays perfectly still, exactly as the doctor left him. If not for Elyas' slow, steady breathing, it would be easy enough to assume that the doctor had failed and was unable to help him. He's recovering, though. He's recovering from the pain and blood loss, from the stress of his body trying to heal again and again a wound that wouldn't close. From thinking he was going to die and would never again see the long of his life. But he's getting there. He's regaining his strength little by little.

The fourth day is when there's finally a little movement. Unconsciousness finally gives way to regular sleep and the first thing Elyas does is rolls onto his side, facing the vampire. Even in his sleep, he know right where Laurent is. He spends the next few hours sleeping soundly just like that, though he occasionally takes a deeper breath or makes some small noise in his sleep. Though he doesn't move, it's much different that the stillness of the unconscious fox.

Though a few more hours pass, it's still that fourth day when Elyas finally opens his eyes. After so long closed, it's hard to clear his vision and make his eyes focus. Giving up on his eyes and closing them again for now, the fox sniffs at the air instead. Though his eyes have betrayed him, his nose is still sharp. And he would recognize the scent of his dear, sweet vampire anywhere.

"Laurent?"

Four days that felt like centuries to the vampire. Four days he stays at Elyas' side, unwilling to budge or move away for even a second. Leaving Elyas alone is what landed him in this state. During that time, he did have the servants bring water, which he trickled on Elyas' lips to keep them from getting too dry.

With his keen senses, Laurent noticed his beloved slip from from that deep unconsciousness into normal sleep. Hope sprung that night. Elyas would come back to him for sure! He's only grateful Elyas woke in the night! Not that Laurent couldn't be woken in the day, it's just harder. However, he likes to think he would bolt up the moment Elyas came to in this situation.

"I'm here, my love," he murmurs, taking one of Elyas' hands between his.

Elyas slowly makes a second attempt at opening his eyes as he weakly pulls himself a little closer to Laurent. Closer to the source of the comforting scent. Closer to his heart and soul. The very reason for his continued survival. It's difficult though. His body feels so heavy. It's like the doctor filled him with lead before she closed him up. He presses his free hand to his stomach and then shoves it under his shirt to inspect his skin. Whole. Perfectly smooth. Like no damage had ever been done.

Gently tugging Laurent's hands closer, Elyas presses his lips to the back of one. "So am I. I'm here too. I survived because of you."

It's been an age since tears sprung to Laurent's eyes. And yet they have so much in the last week. When he found his beloved in that state, each day the passed while he remained in limbo, and no from the joy of having Elyas back.

"I can take precious little of that credit, my love." All he did was find the gumiho, bring him home. The doctor healed his wounds and Elyas clawed his way back from nothingness. He shifts closer, gently as he doesn't know if Elyas is in any pain. "I thought I might lose you."

Elyas closes his eyes and gives his head a small shake. Laurent gets at least as much credit as Elyas and the doctor, if not a little more. "You found me." Had Laurent not found Elyas bleeding out in the snow, he would never have been able to find his way back from that vast nothingness. Had Laurent not found Elyas, there would've been nothing left for the doctor to heal. Without Laurent, Elyas would've been lost. "You deserve a lot of credit because you found me."

Pressing his lips to Laurent's hand once again, twice, three times, he reopens his eyes to gaze at his beautiful vampire. The amazing, ethereal creature he thought that he'd never get to see again as he watched his blood spilling out onto the snow.

"You couldn't lose me so easily." Because Laurent always knows where to find him.

Elyas' logic makes sense. Had Laurent not searched for him, had he left maybe moments later than he did... his beloved would've perished in the cold, alone. He never could have forgiven himself if Elyas died due to his inaction. And the Fomorians? They would never be forgiven for harming his gumiho. The monsters even monsters fear. What care they for the feelings of a lone vampire? Or anyone? Mindless monstrosities that they ware. Everyone one that crosses his path henceforth will feel his wrath.

"I know you fought hard, my love. As hard as you could." Both against them of to cling to life when darkness beckoned. "You're safe now. I want you to rest until you're absolutely certain you're back to health." Rest and relax, let Laurent dote on him for a few days until his body feels like his again. "I'm your servant until then."

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❝ Shine on friend, goodnight ❞

CW: VIOLENCE, BLOOD, MAYBE A LITTLE GORE

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