Part 1 Part 2

Context: Born with magic in your veins, you were quickly drafted into the Program. A clandestine part of Neo Babylonia, the Program trains vampiric Knights to work side-by-side with Magi they have been raised alongside. You've just graduated and your Knight has returned home, speaking of dangerous, taboo things. It's your first day on the job and it seems that will begin with a monster uprising and a lot of questions about your relationship with your Knight. A lot of questions about...everything, actually.

Setting: Market District - Destroyed Cafe

Tags: [MM4A][Friends to More?][Vampire Knight Speaker][Demon Speaker][Mage Listener][Established Relationship][Sci-Fi][Supernatural][Futuristic][Demon][Conspiracy?][Forbidden Love][Religious Iconography][Mercy][Seedy Underground][CW: Mentions of Genocide/Religious Zealotry]

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[P] = Pip, the demon [D] = Dante, your Knight

[Scene opens in a decimated Market District cafe]

[SFX: Chaos, burning, and struggling]

[His words echo in your mind]

[D] “Holy Hell… it’s a demon.”

[Together, you stare down at the figure clawing and struggling before you]

[P] “W-Wait! Don’t kill me, please! I didn’t want to be forced up here for the culling!”

[D] “The culling? What culling? No, we can’t associate. We can’t interact. Their presence will corrupt us away from our work. Here, keep the machine’s word in your heart and pray while I call for a retrieval vehicle. Wicked or not, I’m sure studying him will at least prove worthy for the Grand Priest.”

[P] “N-No, please! They’ll dissect me alive!”

[D, with a sigh] “Listen not to its pleading, Starlight. Just keep a field over him and stay guarded.”

[SFX: Dante’s footsteps fading out]

[D, muffled and fading] “This is Grand Knight Dante, reporting in-”.

[SFX: A magical spell being used]

[You slot a white orb into your staff and cast it. You brace for the demon to shriek or writhe in pain but all he does is blink in annoyance]

[P] “Ow, geeze that’s bright! Rrgh! It… is helping my wounds though… Thanks.”

[Pause?]

[The demon lets out a bitter laugh]

[P] “Expecting it to boil my skin, Mage? Or are you one of those wicked nuns they send to flush us out, hm? Mmh… Nah. You’re a mage. A higher tier one, but I’ve seen your kind before… Not you. I would have remembered you…”

[Pause!]

[P, with a laugh] “Really? “Be silent, demon”? Tch… You Magi have no idea what you’re doing. Do you?”

[SFX: The spell amping up]

[P] “You can cast Heal on me all you fucking want, sweetheart. It’s not holy, not like that little necklace around your neck. The one that’s blessed to condemn my kind to oblivion, right? Go ahead. Test your faith, sweetheart. My existence versus your ‘religion’. If I burn, your problem is over and my pain is done. If I don’t, well… then you have to decide if you’re willing to let another living thing be torn apart while alive and fully conscious…”

[Pause]

[D, still muffled] “Entity is capable of human speech? Yes. Ah… Yes, I can hold, but we are in the middle of… Fine. I’m holding.”

[SFX: Muffled, obnoxious hold music]

[You meet the demon’s gaze he glares in response, more done than hostile]

[P] “Go ahead. My name’s Pip, by the way. I want you to know it so you have a name to the face of a person you fucking murdered. You know this isn’t right. I can see it in your eyes, you don’t want to do this. You hate this… don’t you? I’m a low-level demon and even I can feel how much you hate this…”

[Pause!]

“I’m not trying to ‘tempt’ you. Go ahead. I can’t move. Test me.”

[SFX: A necklace shifting uncertainly]

[You prod the demon with it, expecting… something. But nothing happens]

“See? Nothing. I’m helpless, losing, nghh, air trying to argue with you. You’re being, hhnh, misled by the Priest. You’re… committing… genocide…”

[D, sighing and muffled] “Really? The same song for fifteen minutes?”

[Pause…]

[P] “Hhk, look… L-Let me free and I’ll show you… I’ll show you the truth. Please… Please, can you just… turn the other cheek or some shit? Please???”

[...]

[SFX: The Listener’s heartbeat quickening before the wood is cleared]

[You hesitate for a moment before moving the debris off of him. Pip scrambles away, looking at you like a wounded animal]

[...]

[P] “...Thank you. If you want to see the truth… Come back here in two days at midnight. Bring your Grand Knight only if you know he won’t hurt us. We’re tired of being hurt…”

[Pause]

[With a nod, Pip pries up a loose floorboard and vanishes beneath]

[D, less muffled] “Starlight? Starlight, are you alright?!”

[SFX: Hurried footsteps and the Listener deliberately falling into some rubble]

[You make a show of tossing yourself into some debris and pretending to be dazed as Dante runs in]

[D] “Starlight! Are you hurt?!”

[He taps his ear and the COMM shuts off as he gathers you in his arms]

[D] “Are you alright?! Did it hurt you?!”

[Pause]

[D] “What…? We need to talk? Starlight… You know there are ears everywhere in Neo-Babylonia, it’s not…”

[Pause]

[D] “...Starlight, we can’t…”

[Pause]

[D] “I want to! With everything in me, I want… Oh? Oh, about the demon. Right… Well, it is my job to investigate these matters. But why would you bother? The demon got away and all of its words are lies…”

[Pause?]

[His expression darkens enough that you take a step away]

[D] “Demons… celldwellers… It doesn’t matter. They’ve taken almost everything from me! That’s why we can’t be involved. That’s why we have to be happy with what little intimacy we’re allowed! That’s why we cannot speak out against the Church! Do you understand?!”

[...]

[He calms as you look at him, anguished]

[D] “I… I’m sorry… A lot of Knights didn’t come home. A lot of Mages had to learn of their death and… so many turned the flame on themselves. Or blades. Point is, I cannot lose you, and I don’t ever want to think of you agonizing over my not being there anymore! I love you…”

[Pause]

[Silence falls between you and he looks away, almost shaking]

[D] “I-I’m sorry… I shouldn’t…”

[Pause]

[He sighs and turns to you with a sad smile]

[D] “I know you love me, too… Here, give me your hand and rest your palm on my chest. Synchronize your heartbeat…”

[SFX: A pair of heartbeats synchronizing]

[D] “There… I’m sorry I scared you. I saw you knocked down a-and…”

[He draws a breath and exhales]

[D] “... Starlight? Do you think… we could go to Limbo after we report our findings?”

[Pause?]

[D] “Yeah, it’s… it’s that club downtown. Not exactly Church approved, but they turn a blind eye to it because it’s the least amount of trouble they have to deal with. Knights and Mages are allowed some… personal time, so long as the place isn’t raided.”

[Pause]

[D] “I know the implications, Starlight, but I just want to talk to you somewhere where it’s actually safe for us to express affection. The Church… insists that we’re paragons of society, protectors that are too pure to think of sin. They train us to be closer than any two people ever should and then deny any emotions that arise from that intimacy…”

[Pause]

[SFX: Technological bleep-bloops]

[D] “They have an opening in two days at 10 PM, looks like. How does that sound?”

[...]

[You glance back to the floorboard]

[D] “Starlight?”

[Pause]

[He smiles and it makes your heart pound in its ribcage]

[D] “Wonderful… I can’t wait.”

[To be continued?]