When he summons a demon in a desperate bid to save his Mother from his abusive Father, the last thing Carter Willows expects is Ryu, the infuriating pyromaniac demon with a penchant for pushing Carter to his limit. Yet to call in his side of the bar...
Carter could hear Ryu, could perceive each word and syllable and consonant he spoke.
And yet, he couldn't seem to understand him.
Burn me.
The words were there, blazing at the forefront of Carter's mind, and yet he couldn't grasp them, couldn't accept them.
Because that would mean-that would mean Ryu was asking-
"No." Carter's bottom lip wobbled, and he bit it to keep it still. "That's not gonna happen."
"Please."
Ryu's gaze was soft and beseeching, and Carter couldn't fucking stand it.
"No!" He said again, desperately trying to tug his arm from Ryu's grip. He had to get to Margo, and they were wasting time-were wasting air even talking about it-
"You can do it!" Ryu insisted, holding tight to Carter's arm. His voice had taken on a desperation of its own, and his touch seemed particularly searing, as though the very heat of it would burn through Carter's shirt. "I saw you in that bathroom! You burned that demon away! I know you can do it to me!"
"I'm not gonna do that!" Carter cried, and oh god, now he was crying, hot tears running down his face and disappearing into the grass below. "It's too cruel, it'll hurt you! And you'll-you'll be gone!"
His voice broke into a wail, and with a fierce yank, he tore free and whirled on Ryu. "We won't know where you'll end up! If you'll even exist anymore! We don't know what happened to that demon! I might've-I might've killed it!"
"Ohhh, mortals!" A voice cooed.
Both turned to find the demon standing a few paces from them, Margo struggling in her grip.
Margo had several scratches on her face and was kicking wildly, but the demon had a talon pressed into her jugular, and her too-bright eyes promised violence.
Her smile promised worse.
"Won't you surrender nicely?" The demon inquired, tone falsely polite. She tilted her head and raised a perfectly manicured brow. "It'd make things so much easier. Of course..."
Margo coughed as the talon pressed into her skin, drawing a thin line of blood.
Carter wondered if this was what dying felt like.
"We have to, Carter." Ryu was at his ear. He was gripping Carter's shoulder now, squeezing insistently with each word. "If I'm gone, this demon will be, too. I'm her only link. I'm the only link for any of them. It's me."
Water dripped onto Carter's shoulder, and he froze as he realised Ryu was crying, weeping silently into his shirt.
"Please," Ryu begged. He whispered it over and over onto Carter's neck, as though it were a prayer. As though it were a vow being embedded into his skin. "Please, please, please."
"I tire, mortals," the demon interjected, her lovely features twisting into a scowl. "If you're quite done-"
Carter didn't give her a chance to finish.
He turned in Ryu's embrace, cupped his face in his palms, and kissed him full on the mouth.
Heat flooded him at once, rushing into his core, filling his veins with pure fire. He tasted brimstone on his tongue, and tears, and as their lips pressed together, moving and shifting as one, he pushed as much heat as he could into Ryu, just as he'd done to the demon in the men's bathroom.
And just as with that demon, the effect was almost instantaneous.
Ryu hissed in pain as flame crawled up his arms, growing and leaping into the cool night air.
Carter stared in dismay and let out a horrified sob, attempting to pull away.
"I can't," he pleaded, "I can't, I can't-"
Ryu surged forward and recaptured his lips, and Carter shut his eyes, letting tears stream down his face as he pushed and pushed, feeding every last plume of fire into Ryu's very being.
Behind them, Margo gasped and struggled free, and when Carter dared a glance, the other demon was on her knees, flame engulfing her and black blood pooling down her face.
"Stop!" She screeched, wailing in pain.
It was a horrific reminder of the pain Ryu must be feeling, of the screams he must be fighting back, because Carter had barely heard a whimper from him.
"STOP! YOU VERMIN, I'LL DESTROY YO-"
The demon's screams abruptly cut off.
Margo made a low, keening noise, despair wobbling in every wave of her voice. "Carter-"
Carter didn't open his eyes at first. He couldn't.
He knew they'd done it. He couldn't feel Ryu's skin beneath his palms anymore, couldn't taste his fire or his tears, but he still stood there in the very pose he'd begun, palms up and eyes closed.
He knew he must look rather ridiculous, but he found he couldn't bring himself to care.
Then a pair of arms wrapped around him, and Margo was murmuring comforts into his hair. "It's okay, Carter-you did so well, you know that? You did so well, and oh, Carter, he was so, so brave..."
Carter blinked open his eyes, and a wad of misery obscured his throat so completely his sob came out a distraught hiccup.
A sudden gasp snatched his attention.
Margo was at his side and tugging up his hoodie sleeves before he even registered she'd moved. As she pulled back the faded red fabric, rivulets of burned skin revealed themselves, a series of criss-crossing lines climbing from his wrists to his shoulders.
The other arm revealed the same scars.
Margo gasped again.
"Oh, god," she whispered, a hand flying to her mouth. "Oh, Carter, I'm so sorry. So much prolonged contact with a demon in one day must've really...done a number on you."
She instructed Carter to check the rest of his skin, which he dutifully did, but it seemed only his arms had been affected.
"It's still awful," Margo fretted, eyeing the scars with notable fear. "Does it hurt? Do you need medical attention?"
"I don't care about that," Carter whispered, staring out into the dark field. The sudden enormity of what he'd done hit him all at once, and fresh tears sprang to his eyes.
"H-He's g-gone," he wailed; Carter began to shake all over, and when his legs buckled, he didn't fight the gravity tugging him to his knees. "O-Oh my g-god...I k-killed-"
"No you didn't, Carter," Margo interjected fiercely. Suddenly she was in front of him, cupping his face in his hands and staring him directly in the face. Her mouth was set and her brows were drawn. "Carter, listen to me, okay? You didn't. What you did-what you both did-was save me."
Tears were welling in her own eyes, and she gave a sudden laugh and shook her head, pressing her forehead against Carter's. Sleek black hair tickled his cheek.
"We won, Carter. We won."
Carter could only nod. His tongue felt too heavy, his eyelids too heavy to keep open. He closed them and leaned heavily against Margo, nodding into her soothing whispers, letting her voice anchor him to the moment.
We won, she'd said.
And yet, somehow, it didn't feel like winning at all.
A/N: Please feel free leave a comment and/or vote if you enjoyed!
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