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When it rains, my heart resonates
So much that it hurts
Your one remaining gift
I’ll be reminded of it time and time again
I yearn for your coffee-scented kiss
But it’s too far away
It’s too hazy
“Perhaps I’ll Be Able to Become the Sun,” TUYU
~
I must feast.
I need to feast.
With a guttural, animalistic shriek and bared fangs, Cole sank his claws and his fangs into Serena’s flesh as she attempted to run away, a blood trail and quivering breath following her every move. Loud rumbles of thunder echoed in the distance, though it had no effect on the volume of the ear-piercing shriek that the female Wolfe twin let out before her broken body collapsed to the ground. Blood and saliva dripping from his fangs in the moment, Cole at once lunged upon Serena and gorged himself on the remains of her corpse, his once-white teeth now stained red with the impurity of blood.
The rain continued to pour all around Cole as he continued to feast, his yellow eyes gleaming in the light with a vengeance and hunger. Howling loudly and letting out a beastly growl, Cole wiped away the fresh blood from his lips before preparing to leave Serena’s mangled body. Crickets chirped in the nearby woods and the grass rustled, the familiar sight of the pale, yellowed moon looming over the cabins of Roanoke Woods.
And for a brief moment, Cole paused as he stared at the remains of Serena. The short brown hair that framed her face. A locket clasped around her neck that Cole couldn’t help but open out of curiosity. As he attempted to tear open the locket with his overgrown nails, Cole sniffed around at it before he detected the scent of the girl he had been chasing prior, along with a similar, more autumnal smell - her brother’s. At last, Cole pried open the locket before stumbling back in shock of what it contained. A picture containing a brown-haired family, an older woman huddled beside a girl with long, brown hair that reached down to her waist and a smiling brother who was putting bunny ears behind her as she smiled without a care in the world - a family.
Claws trembling and tears forming in his eyes, Cole looked down let out an audible gasp as he looked down at what had once been Serena - stared at the mangled pieces of what once had been a loved hunter, a strong woman, a sister to someone, a daughter, a -
A splitting headache raged through the werewolf, causing him to cry out in pain and drop the locket onto the ground, its glass case shattering into a million shards. Emotion-filled memories were wiped away wordlessly by the mist, and left Cole shuddering, leaving him a beast - a “perfect” slate of nothing but a bloodthirsty killer. In a world where time stopped and all that mattered was how much blood the killers could sacrifice, the mist had time and time again blocked out sentimental thoughts from the killers’ brains. Cole was no exception. In fact, he was anything but. The mist had taken note of how Cole required blood to satiate his primal urges, and thus it usually manipulated this instinct by intensifying his primal urges so that Cole would do its bidding once again. A minute was all he was allotted to feel emotion before continuing to be the mist’s slave. Another pawn for its odd fantasies. With a sigh and clenched paws, Cole got up from his kneeling position, intending to continue on his sorrowful rampage before he heard an emotion-filled, deep voice coming from right behind him.
“GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY SISTER, YOU GODDAMNED MUTT!”
With narrowed eyes and dilated pupils, Cole turned to see a tall, brown haired man with a scar running down his eye and a bandage wrapped around his arm in what seemed to be a tourniquet. Kyle. Cole growled as he realized that that golden-haired florist must have aided the man and breathed life into him once more with a magical flower. Hiding his anxiety behind a menacing snarl, Cole wiped his bloodied claws against his equally red jacket before meeting Kyle’s gaze briefly.
Not caring for Cole’s silent warning, Kyle drew closer - like a moth to an unquenchable flame of rage. “I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHAT THE HELL EIJI SEES IN YOU! YOU’VE DONE NOTHING BUT HURT OTHERS! YOU - YOU MONSTER!”
Guilt cloaked Cole like a blanket, sorrow enveloping every part of his being before the mist pierced into him once again, forcing him to straighten up and raise his voice a level. Cole's heart pounded with a heartrending defiance in his chest, his breath quickening with every memory, every kill, every time that he had torn his claws and gorged himself on innocent survivors who hadn’t done anything to him before closing his eyes and looking away.
“But - But - I’m not a monster! D-Don’t make me hurt you!”
Kyle took one step forward in the face of Cole before screaming in his face fearlessly. Though Kyle most indefinitely could get killed at any moment, he still kept up this strong facade - he didn’t care much for how much he could get hurt in the moment, for all that he needed in the moment was to be heard. To be heard by the man who had slaughtered his father.
“YOU HAD A CHOICE, GODDAMNIT! AND YOU FUCKING KILLED MY SISTER! YOU HEAR ME? YOU KILLED HER! THIS IS THE 99TH TIME I’VE SEEN YOU BY A DEAD BODY WITH BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS! I’VE BEEN FUCKING COUNTING, YOU BASTARD!”
Cole was about to respond in the same sorrow-filled manner he had earlier, yet the mist seeped into his vision once more, driving his primal instincts forward and bringing forth memories of rounds of stepping into bear traps, animosity and the face of a football player who kept Eiji away from him, memories of being labeled a monster and the day he killed that man -
“Shut up! SHUT UP!” Cole charged toward the trapper, unleashing his feral rage before tackling him to the ground and sinking his claws into his chest relentlessly. Kyle fell to the ground with a heavy force before Cole collapsed on top of him, getting up swiftly and holding a claw to his neck. The werewolf howled loudly, his eyes glowing brightly in the moonlight with a vengeance.
“... C… Cole?”
Cole turned to meet the eyes of someone he knew, meeting the gaze of a short, raven-haired man with an infinity scarf draped messily around his neck. Kyle, lying down and half-dead on the ground grasped out for Eiji as if to try and warn him to leave him and the beast be let out before collapsing once more and fading into dust.
“Don’t - Don’t look, Eiji! Please! I - I’m sorry, I can fix it, everything - ” Cole whimpered, his tail swishing from side to side anxiously as he struggled to avert his gaze away from the one person he didn’t want to see at the moment.
Eiji let out a sigh before tears formed in his eyes, and he stomped on the ground loudly - though it would be muffled by the dirt beneath his feet. It was still enough to make a point, however. He raised his voice, yelling loudly at Cole. “You can’t fix it, Cole. We can’t fix it! You’ve changed - you’re not the same boy who I spent my days frolicking in the forest with! I’m not the same timid, shy boy either! I - I can manage without you now! You - you have a choice, Cole. Please. Do the right thing! Let him go! You may have changed, but I know that the old you is still somewhere in there… SOMEWHERE!”
“I can’t do this anymore, Eiji. I… I just want to set down everything… I… I…” Cole drew closer to Eiji, who stepped back in fear, inching away slowly from the bloodthirsty werewolf.
As if some sort of magical mist had altered the landscape, more fog swept in and blinded the two of them before settling in once again and presenting an Eiji who seemed more… friendly. More willing to take a chance at making amends with Cole.
Eiji’s horrified expression turned into an almost artificial smile before he drew in closer again. “Cole… My dear, sweet boyfriend… I… I’m not afraid of you anymore. I’ll accept you for who you are, werewolf or not. I don’t want to harm you - I don’t care about how many people you’ve killed. You were right for it all.” The smaller man with raven-black hair and a kind smile opened out his arms as if a spotlight was beamed onto him and he was the star of a show.
Cole’s eyes widened in surprise before he let out a growl in his deep, beastly voice. “You… You… Eiji, I’m so sorry - I’m so sorry for everything! Eiji, Eiji - I missed you, I -
“Shh. Cole. It’s alright. Just please… please. I can’t bear to see you like this anymore… Just listen to me, okay?” After Cole nodded, Eiji put a soft hand on the werewolf’s hard, callused one before wiping away the remainder of his tears and the snot that was dripping down his face.
“Everything’s going to be alright, Cole. Everything’s going to be okay. I… I love you, Cole. No matter what. How many people you killed doesn’t matter. It wasn’t your fault.”
“Y-You think so?” Cole let out a loud wail before burying himself in the younger man’s arms, the overpowering scent of lavender that he had grown oh-so accustomed to from the days when they used to know each other enveloping him whole. “E-Eiji! I’m sorry… I’m sorry! I missed you… Oh, I’ve become such a terrible monster… I didn’t mean to kill Kyle and Serena’s father and leave you! I’m sorry… I’m sorry!”
Eiji smiled before patting the werewolf’s back and drawing him in closer. Cole took the hint, and pulled Eiji in for a tight hug before kissing him with as much passion as he could muster, closing his eyes to feel the euphoria of gaining back someone who he thought that he had lost. Cole at last opened his eyes before awakening to see the dead body of Eiji standing in front of him. His eyes widened before he shook Eiji again and again, a newly inflicted wound’s blood pouring down the side of his chest covering both him and the werewolf in blood.
The long, waking dream that the beast was having while Eiji screamed for help and begged for mercy was all but real. While Eiji was being cornered and forced to look at the last bits of Serena’s corpse, as well as Kyle’s fading life, Cole was immersed in his own world, making up imaginary dialogue and the mist tugging at his very being, giving him the courage to kill the one person who prevented him from succumbing completely to the mist.
With bloodied claws and tear-stained, amber eyes, the beast pulled the mangled corpse closer to itself before letting out an ear-piercing, heartbroken scream. It shook the pale corpse with as much force as it could muster before letting out a growl, attempting to call to its lover, its beacon, sanctuary, last tie to humanity - words fading into a series of unintelligible growls as what had once made it “Cole” slipped away from it. Blurred memories of lavender-scented kisses from him, days of taking pictures in the woods and wounds tended to with kitten-adorned bandages all given by a face that wouldn’t ever forgive him, as much as he tried to convince himself to were wiped away wordlessly, his bond to the mist fortified by this illusion that had been drawn before him.
This was the 100th person he had killed.
And it was his light. His flower. His diamond.
The beast howled, heartbreak and longing for what it could have once been fading along with the last of its humanity. The one person that he loved was gone, gone, and it never would have a chance to be forgiven by him ever again. Now on all fours, the beast ran into the depths of the night, off to find more survivors to appease the mist with. Its heart pounding quickly in the chest, it let out a final howl before drawing closer toward the light of the cabins.