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Chapter Text

Chuuya had scrambled home to write his letter before he started to run around his room, shoving the few things he had into the one travel chest he had bought. "OK ok... Train is risky, fast, but risky, he can catch us through that route easy." he was mumbling under his breath as he considered things, "I can..." he looked towards the travel brochure he had picked up when he came to Novoselic.

There were some options, train, carriage, and cart.

Chuuya took a deep breath, "Alright. Alright..." he groaned as he folded the brochure and shoved it into the chest and slammed it shut. "Cart. Cart will lead us far enough to start."

click clack

Chuuya looked towards the window, there being a crow he was very familiar with. "Welcome back." he rolled the letter he wrote and replaced the one that the crow was holding, "Good girl." he praised as he fed the crow a handful of sun flower seeds. The crow ate them up happily, Chuuya looked at the letter sent by Kouyou, he sighed before he opened his chest and hid it inside it before shutting and latching it once more.

"Alright. Gotta get the mummy and convince him to come with me." he sighed as he took out a map from his pocket and opened it. He traced various routes, "Alright. Straight to Kalnas isn't good, that's too easy to track us down that way..." he thought a moment on what he wrote to Kouyou and hissed, "Kouyou's going to kick my ass if I come back after a few years of running away from a lunatic doctor." he looked at the route again and narrowed his eyes, "If we take the route down through Sausuma and zigzag all over the place and we'll be able to toss him." Chuuya was speaking to no one in particular as he got his thoughts out of his head and made it all seem the more real.

He took a deep breath and steeled his nerves as he folded the map and put it into his pocket again.

In the morning Dazai came over to the building, "Odasaku! Chuuy-!" he got pulled in by the arm by Chuuya inside and upstairs, Chuuya slammed and locked the door before he snapped his head around to Dazai. "Alright listen here dude." he grabbed Dazai's shoulders, "I will say this fast, both Oda and Ango?" he made Dazai sit on his bed, "They're gone. But-" Chuuya gulped, he couldn't say it out loud yet but he could lie, "But they could use us out of here and yknow living our lives and all."

Dazai blinked a bit, "But I probably need to-" Chuuya put a finger to his lips, "We're adults. All you gotta do is take the things you can't live without and we don't have to worry about coming back. Pack your shit at home and we're taking a cart to go everywhere." he may have been speaking fast and assuming Dazai would actually go along with it. Dazai however looked very interested, "Seriously? We're going to travel outside Novoselic?" he sounded positively delighted at the idea, he smiled a little giddy.

Chuuya nodded fast, "Yeah, take all your clothes, money, and important keepsakes and I'll provide the rest." he looked out the window, he saw that Mori had gone down the street and was out of sight, far enough away to be safe, "Let's just get it, I'll meet you at Rūta avenue." he smiled looking at him, feeling a bit nervous and sweating slightly, Dazai nodded, "Alright! I'll see you there!" the taller laughed happily. Chuuya sighed and let him go.

Dazai was giddy as he made it to his home, up to his room, he giddily packed up the things he had and into a chest, clothes, gold pouch, and a book he had of photos of his friends and family, that was all he needed afterall.

He chuckled a little and picked up the chest as he started to run down the familiar streets of Novoselic, he made a few turns and his eyes catch on the sights of the carts and the options of unicorns, horses and donkies. Dazai laughed giddily as he looked around and saw Chuuya talking with one of the cart attendants.

He looked around at the carts and was about to approach one of the unicorns before Chuuya yelled, "Dazai! Get your ass over here!" he called, Dazai snapped his head around, he laughed and ran over, "Oh? I thought Chuuya forgot about me!" he looked amused as he leaned in closer to the ginger. He shook his head, "Get in the cart you dumb mummy." he pointed with his thumb into the cart, it was a simple one, Dazai hummed and climbed in, he sat down on one of the scratchy yarn seats, he shivered.

"It's so itchy!" Chuuya shook his head as he threw in their luggage, "If you don't like it sit on your chest." he sat against the opposite wall, he looked out at the surroundings, he looked around to see the other people around as he impatiently waited for them to start moving. Dazai meanwhile was focused on looking at Chuuya, he smirked a little, "Where are we going to be heading?" he asked leaning forward a little excited, Chuuya sighed, "We're heading to Sausuma first, one of the settlements further out."

His eyes went a little wide, he laughed, "Sausuma?!" he shook his head, "This time of year!" he leaned back laughing holding onto his stomach, "That's a death wish!" Chuuya shook his head crossing his arms, "Don't you have one?" he returned in a teasing tone. Dazai paused, he then looked up and his face turned to a flustered and bashful one, "Chuuya! You shouldn't have!" he laughed looking all giddy like a school girl talking to her crush kicking his feet a little.

Chuuya shakes his head and chuckled, "Aha, I know I know, I'm so great." he rolled his eyes, he placed his elbow on his knee and his head in his hand, "We'll be heading out soon, they just need to feed the horse." he looked out at the sights of Novoselic, the kingdom would soon be long gone, he hummed, Dazai leaned in closer, "Chuuya I'm curious, how come you're wanting to leave so suddenly? I thought you liked it here in Novoselic."

The ginger looked at him and shrugged, "I want a change of scenery." he thought, he looked out, praying that Shirase understood the letter he gave him, at the very least he knew the man would be able to get things under control. "I'm taking you with me for some familiarity." Dazai was placated at that, laughing a little as he looked at him, "You serious?!" he laughed leaning back in his seat, "Well I am flattered!" he laughed happily as he saw the horse start to trot along.

Dazai grinned as the cart started moving, he looked at Chuuya, "Have you ever been to Sausuma before? Much less in its rain season?" he asked tilting his head, "Or are you taking us both for a wild ride?" he snickered as he looked at Chuuya, who only rolled his eyes, "We're going to be having a great time going around all the regions to see what there is to see." he sighed, "We'll be in this cart a few days minimum, I bet we'll be in here for 2 weeks to make it to the first stop." Dazai looked at him and laughed, "First stop?! How many are we going to be going to?!" he grinned brightly, Chuuya shrugged, "Who knows? Let's see everything." he sighed looking out at the scenery.

He watched as the kingdom started to pass them by, it was a simple glimmer going past them, them starting to head past and out of Novoselic, into the forest where they were going to head into Sausuma, Dazai leaned his head out of the cart and looked up in awe and smiling as he looked at the red and golden leaves falling down and getting illuminated by rays of golden sunlight.

"Hey Chuuya don't you need inspiration for those poems you write? Look at this stuff!" he pointed out as birds were preparing to fly away and leave he just smiled as he looked at all of them. Chuuya chuckled as he leaned and looked up to see what was out there, he leaned a little looking out, Dazai looked at the ground level and laughed a little, "Squirrel!" he pointed, Chuuya looked after it and squinted, "I'm pretty sure that was a rock-"

"I know!" Dazai chuckled, "I just wanted to see how much you'd believe me if I just said it!" Chuuya looked at him with a dead eyed stare, "Oh fuck off." he moved back and sat down in his place again. "You are one annoying bastard, here I thought you found the whimsical soul of a child." he shook his head leaning back, he looked up to see the ceiling of the cart, a tent of wood under a wool tarp.

Chuuya sighed, he put a hand above his eyes to keep the sun out as they road through the forest, he silently thought, I hope that Mori doesn't find us...

The two of them watched as they passed trees, various animals and rock structures. Dazai leaned out the cart and grabbed for an apple like fruit from a nearby tree, Chuuya scrambled and grabbed him by the back of his shirt, "You mad man! What the hell you doing!?" he scolded, pulling Dazai back into the cart, Dazai holding the purple apple, "I saw this and couldn't resist picking it!" he smiled and bit into it and chewed, "Hm. Tastes funny." he looked at it, Chuuya looked at the pink flesh of the apple.

Pink flesh, purple skin, fully grown during mid autumn-

"That's a squirrel killer apple!" Chuuya tried to grab it from Dazai but the other bit into it again, "I like it!" he insisted, Chuuya grabbed him by the scruff and pulled the apple out of Dazai's mouth and tossed it out, "It's poisonous!" he scolded looking at Dazai with a sharp glare, Dazai blinked, he was about to speak before Chuuya shoved his head over the edge and his fingers down Dazai's throat, "Throw up!"

Dazai gagged and spewed out everything he had eaten in the day onto the road, he coughed up everything as he glanced back at Chuuya with a pout, "It's not like it'll actually kill me! I'm cursed remember?" Chuuya hissed, "Shut up. I don't need you shitting yourself and crying like a little bitch for hours." he smacked the back of his head.

I have my work cut out for me.

"God I swear I am like your damn babysitter!" he took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his hand clean of Dazai's spit, Dazai huffed, "Chuuya is so mean." he whined and laid down on the seat, "Oh shut up you tried to poison yourself you suicidal maniac!" the ginger continued to scold him.

Dazai pouted like a petulant child, "Chuuya is so strict." the other shook his head. "Oh shut up." he looked back and he observed the changing surroundings, he watched the shades of golden shades and ruby shades of leaves. He looked where they came from, he couldn't see the kingdom of Novoselic anymore, but he knew they were 4 hours away. They were still far too close. Chuuya looked at Dazai again who yawned, "When are we going to be there?" he asked looking up at Chuuya with his one eye, the dark iris like that of a fish.

Chuuya hummed, "I'd say our cart will be going for another 8 hours." he said casually as Dazai chuckled, "8 hours? We're seriously going to keep moving when it gets dark?" he asked looking up at Chuuya, who nodded, "Yeah. I say so." he looked to the one who was directing the horse, he knew that this man would be leaving them at the first stop as he was only driving them until his hometown.

"We'll be fine won't we Chuuya?" he sat up, "Oh you think we'll be seeing any snakes?!" he laughed, "How about viper scorpions?!" he looked at Chuuya his eyes alight with an ungodly amount of ideas of what kind of dangers they could run into.

Chuuya looked at him and sighed, "I swear you'll be the death of me." he rubbed his eyes.

Chapter Text

Chuuya sighed and looked out, he looked as the terrain changed from a wooded and temperate one to a more sparsely wooded terrain. Dazai looked over at Chuuya as they watched the terrain change, "We gonna be heading into Sausuma anytime soon?" he pouted, Chuuya unfolded the map he had in his vest pocket, he read it over and looked outside, he looked back at the map again.

He traced his fingers along the route they were taking, Dazai leaned and tried to read it as well, "Where are we?" he asked looking at Chuuya, the other hummed, "We're around here." he pointed on a spot, "We're close to the border." he said calmly, he dragged his finger across the map, going through the border to a small speck in the middle of no where. "We're heading here." he looked at Dazai, who narrowed his eyes, "That looks like nothing." he looked back at Chuuya.

"OK? So what?" he shrugged, "It's a smaller settlement, most of the settlements away from train station at the capital are tiny as hell." he shook his head, "What did you expect?" Dazai looked at him and raised his brows, "I dunno? I thought Sausuma was just more populated I guess?" he thought a bit, "I mean you know how they have all those adult entertainers and stuff? Ladies and gents of the night?" he looked at Chuuya, he leaned in close whispering, "Was Chuuya thinking about hiring one? That why he heading to Sausuma first-?"

Chuuya shoved him and pushed him onto the floor of the cart, "Shut up, I'm not paying for sex." he rolled his eyes, "Unlike you I'm not that desperate for someone to dick down." he shook his head, "Oh come on Chuuya! You expect me to believe that?!" he laughed, "I bet you're still a virgin!" Chuuya kicked him, "Ow!" he groaned falling back, "I am not a virgin!" he yelled, "I am not convinced Chibi!" the taller laughed.

"I don't need to convince you!" he growled as he folded the map again putting it in his pocket again, "You're talking absolute nonsense. Unlike you I am not a living corpse." he scoffed, Dazai looked at him and laughed, "Who says I'm a virgin!?" he looked up at him, "I have done tons of the sex!" Chuuya narrowed his eyes at him.

"The sex?" he repeated, Dazai nodded, "Yes the sex!" he crossed his arms with a proud smile on his face, "You know that makes you sound like a kid." Chuuya snickered a little which made Dazai go red, "Hey!" he whined and smacked his leg, Chuuya rolled his eyes, "It's the truth Dazai." he kicked him back causing him to fall in the space between their luggage.

Dazai squeaked as he was stuck in between the two chests, "I'm stuck!" he cried out, Chuuya looked down at him and chuckled a little as he looked at Dazai flounder as he was stuck in the space, trying to break free kicking his about and trying to free his arms from where he was stuck. "You're seriously stuck?!" he started to laugh at the sight of his travel buddy stuck in between their individual luggages.

"Chuuya help me!" he yelled, his tone somewhere between pleading and anger, "Help me you stupid shadow!!!" he yelled, Chuuya laughed some more, "Shadow?!" he wheezed, "You think that's in any way a nickname that'll actually make me cave?!" he started to get teary as his lungs burned from how much he was laughing, "You're pathetic!"

Dazai scowled, "Help me slug!" Chuuya laughed a little, "Oh mano dievais, I should have bought a camera while we were still in the capital!" he howled and shook his head and laughed more and more, "You bean pod!" Dazai yelled, he glared at Chuuya and made a poor attempt to spit at him, "I'll cut your legs off in your sleep so you're even shorter than before!" Chuuya only continued to laugh, "Now-now I'll definitely not help you out!" he wheezed as he doubled over coughing.

It took another few minutes for Chuuya to stand up on unsteady footing to help Dazai out of the hole he stuck himself in, "You looked so pathetic." he shook his head, "Shut up!" Dazai cried his cheeks bright red.

The terrain turned to be grasslands and misty, making it humid, Dazai shivered, "Cold!" he shook his head, "I thought Sausuma was hot!" Chuuya rolled his eyes, "That's during the dry season!" he sighed. "It's the wet season so obviously it's colder!" he shook his head. Dazai whined, "Chuuya give me you vest to keep me warm!" he pulled on it, only to have his hands swatted, "Get one out of your chest!"

"But yours is better!" he fussed and whined as he rubbed his hands as if Chuuya had actually hurt him, "You're so mean Chuuya!" he whined before something caught his eye, he leaned out and watched something, "What are you looking at?" he looked over his shoulder, his eyes catching on a grazing deer, the antlers large with many crystal balls along them, shimmering in the mist.

"What's that?" Dazai asked sounding utterly in awe, Chuuya hummed, "In Kalnas we call them Kamuolys deer." the dark haired man shook his head, "That feels like too simple a name for them..." he whispered, Chuuya looked at Dazai again, and then at the deer, "Y'know, they're native here," he said calmly as they passed the deer and continued on, Dazai looked at him silently telling Chuuya with his eyes to tell him more.

"Heh, you like stories eh?" he shook his head, resting his head on his hand as he watched the horizon, Dazai rested on his folded arms, looking at Chuuya, "Well the deer are also sacred in these lands, worshiped as a symbol of prosperity," he gestured to the horizon, at all the grass, "The more you see during any season, the better food yields are, the more likely it is for people to thrive and for the next year to be prosperous for everyone."

Dazai turned his head to look out on everything, he gasped as he saw another deer, a mother and her fawn at her side in the tall grasses, Chuuya chuckled, "There's also a story in some ends of the region, that the deer were created from the souls of virtuous people who passed away." the cart rumbled underneath them as it drew to a stop, Dazai looked out and blinked before the rain started pouring, "Whoa." he looked at Chuuya, "How do the deer handle all this rain during this season!?"

Chuuya chuckled and pointed, "Look for yourself." he looked and watched, there was the doe and her fawn walking around like it was nothing, the rain rolling off their back and illuminating the spots on their backs in a silver light. Dazai stared in awe, his eye shimmered at the sight.

"Who knew things like that existed in this world?" Dazai whispered under his breath, the words hard to hear over the rain. Chuuya shook his head, "Yeah who knew?" he reached into his pocket and pulled out a leatherbound notebook, he opened it to an empty page and took out a charcoal pencil from his bag and started to write.

Dazai leaned on Chuuya's shoulder, reading the words on the page, "Read it to me Chuuya!" he chuckled a little smiling at him, Chuuya sighed. "Fine. I will." he finished writing the words and started to read.

In drought and rain,

In heat and freeze,

I know I can trust you to keep me safe.

Dazai blinked as he listened, he shook his head, "That sounds rough. I'm shocked you made this into a career." Chuuya elbowed him in the ribs and Dazai cried out in pain falling on his side, "Ow!" the ginger shut his book and put both back into his pocket, "It's a draft." he hissed. He continued to watch the scenery until the downpour calmed enough for the cart to keep going.

After a few more hours they made it to the town, there were many buildings, made of stone, the windows boarded up, their rider spoke, "This the place." he spoke, Chuuya nodded, "Right. Thank you sir." he stood up, "Come on Dazai. Pick up your chest, we're hoping out." he picked up his own taking it out and climbing out of the cart.

Dazai followed him taking his chest with him holding it above his head to shield himself from the rain, "Where are we staying?" he asked looking at Chuuya, who huffed, "We'll find someone else to drive us to the capital." he looked around and saw a boy returning home with his family's cart, Chuuya walked over, "Hey, 15 gold to give me and my friend a ride to the capital tonight?" he offered smiling a little as he asked, the boy looked at him and then to his mother at the doors of their home, she nodded, "15 gold is a lot and you need to go to the capital anyway." she approved.

Chuuya took out the gold and handed it to her, she counted the gold and checked their authenticity, and nodded, "Povilai, get the cart ready." the boy nodded and ran to get to work, Dazai walked to Chuuya's side and looked at him whispering, "How did you do that so quickly?" he asked looking in awe of him, Chuuya hummed, "Well if you have money you can get places pretty fast." he sighed as he waited.

The boy called, "It's ready!" Chuuya walked forward and climbed in, "Dazai get in!" he offered his hand and then pulled Dazai up into the cart, the two got comfort in the wooden cart, there being hay and other items, the two got comfortable in the little space they had to themselves. "How long until we're at the capital?" Dazai looked at Chuuya with great interest, he sighed, "If you sleep you'll wake up there."

Dazai blinked and narrowed his eyes, "Don't chastise me Chuuya." the ginger chuckled, "Yeah yeah whatever." he laughed a little, "It's 7 hours." he smiled. Dazai sighed and shut his eyes and leaned on the hay, "Alright alright." he yawned. "Night." Chuuya nodded he leaned back, "Night."

Dazai fell asleep first, Chuuya however couldn't sleep just yet, not yet since it was so cold and damp. He didn't say anything, he just was silent and calm in the quiet night as the cart moved closer and closer to Sausuma's capital.

Eventually he shut his eyes and allowed himself to fall asleep.

Chapter Text

Chuuya woke up in the morning and sat up, it was still a little dark and damp but he wasn't shocked, he looked beside him and noticed Dazai still asleep. "Well he sure sleeps like he's dead." he sighed rubbing his eyes looking out, the capital on the horizon, it being a cobbled together area full of many buildings, stacked on top of each other made of sturdy stone and many billowing colorful cloths.

The ginger looked at Dazai and shook his shoulder, "Oi. Mummy." he whined and opened his eyes, "What? Can't you let me sleep?" he sat up stretching and cracking his spine and popping it as he awoke. "We're almost at the capital soon." he pointed, Dazai paused picking out hay out of his hair, he looked out and following where Chuuya pointed.

He blinked and then looked at Chuuya, "It doesn't look as alive as I thought it would." he said with a bit of disappointment in his voice. "I thought it'd be really different!" he pouted, Chuuya picked out some hay from his clothes, "Well smart ass it's the wet season. Of course they're not on the same business as the dry season are you stupid?" he shook his head, "It's suicidal to do everything like normal when it's the damn wet season." He flicked Dazai's forehead making the other whine in protest.

"Hey!" he touched his forehead like it was actually painful, the ginger rolled his eyes, "You're unbelievable." he scolded lightly as he looked at the capital as the cart stopped at the start of the capital. Chuuya took hold of the handle of his chest, "Thanks kid." the boy looked their way a bit shyly and nodded, "N-no problem sir..." Chuuya sighed, he looked to see Dazai focused on getting out the cart with his chest, Chuuya looked back at the kid and placed a gold coin in his hand, "You're a good kid." he said before he followed Dazai.

The boy shoved the coin in his pocket with some delight.

Chuuya and Dazai started walking, the bandaged man looked around and with his one eye he caught something, "Hey Chuuya what are those?" he asked pointing toward ruins of pillars and walls, the other whistled, "That's some of the ruins of the old capital," he looked at Dazai who was eyeing him expectantly.

Chuuya sighed, "The old capital was said to be a castle built before the time of the hundred year war, when it happened Sausuma didn't have strong enough defences against the neighbouring armies and it fell victim to siege." he walked with Dazai to one of the ruins, "Sausuma was hit hardest by the war so even now they're still recovering so they never got the chance to rebuild the palace as it was." he looked at the carved patterns in the ground with the pillars and walls.

"What part of the palace was this?" Dazai asked touching the stone. Chuuya thought a bit, "I'd say it used to be a watch tower." the other chuckled, "That's awfully simple of an explanation for all of this!" he looked at Chuuya with an amused look, Chuuya's eye twitched at the comment. "Well I am a poet not a historian." Dazai snickered, "But you've been such a good one! I mean can you blame the assumption when you're such a good tourist guide?"

Chuuya felt a brief urge to cave the bastard's skull in.

"Do not call me a tourist guide." he hissed, Chuuya looked around and observed the weather, "We should head into town before it gets too rough." Dazai huffed, "Are any places open at this hour? The sun is barely coming up!" Chuuya rolled his eyes as he started walking, he took note of some of the locals, "Maria! Come inside!" "Nagi! Come here!" "Hana! Come back!" Chuuya scowled a bit, he looked at Dazai, "We should find shelter and quick." Dazai blinked, "Why?" he chuckled a little, "Is Chuuya scared of a little water?" he teased poking Chuuya's arm as the shorter man started walking faster.

"Unlike you I can actually drown." he hissed, it was times like this he actually considered that Dazai was truly cursed. It was hard to believe beyond the curse of the hollow, a common curse where the person has no magic and can't interact with it, but Dazai's other curse was what Chuuya thought was far more complicated.

Numquam mortui.

A thing Chuuya was certain very few knew even existed, much less knew anyone with it. "Oh right Chuuya is so blessed with the ability to die!" he whined like a child denied the ability to buy the next coolest toy being displayed in shelves. The older man groaned, "You're helpless." he kept walking and looked for the closest open business, a young bony girl looked at them and called, "You! Come!"

Chuuya looked at her and he started to jog over as the rain started to pick up, he looked to see what Dazai was doing, the younger being slower, Dazai hissed and grabbed his arm and pulled him, "Come on Dazai!" he scolded as he pulled the other along toward the room.

The girl lead them inside into the entrance, Chuuya placed his chest down and started to wring his hair out of all the water that soaked through. Dazai whined, "I'm so wet. I'm sopping!" he fussed as he tried to shake off the water after putting down his own chest. The girl looked at them and shyly asked, "Would-would you like-" Chuuya raised a hand, "We're not here to be entertained, we're here to stay out of the rain only." he sighed a little, the place smelled of spices and sex, it wasn't hard to put together that they were in a brothel.

The girl nodded, "I'll tell the mistress that!" she turned and started to run off, Chuuya stayed standing, watching the girl pass, she was in a simple thin dress with her black hair cut short, her skin a bit paler than before from the sun leaving everyone alone for so long. Chuuya continued to wring out the water in his hair and clothes. "Dazai take off your bandages." he narrowed his eyes looking at him, the other rolled his eye, "But why? It's not like anyone wants to see that." Chuuya groaned.

"Dazai. They're soaked and useless." he shook his head, he rubbed his eyes as he stood in the puddle under him. The girl returned with a middle aged woman, her in simple robes, ones that anyone could be seen wearing to bed, her neck covered in red marks, her hair messy and circles under her eyes, "What are you two here for?" she asked, her voice hoarse, Chuuya bowed his head slightly in respect, "We're here to stay until the rain is done before continuing to travel." he glanced at Dazai who sniffled, he sighed, "May we have a chance to bathe and get dry?"

The madam looked at them and nodded, "Yes. Follow me." Chuuya picked up his chest and started walking after her, "Dazai come on." Dazai picked up his chest and followed after Chuuya, he looked around to observe the surroundings, it was a dimly lit building, one could easily hear the sounds of many people engaged with one another, the smell of spices and the air a bit musty. The smell of sweat and semen wasn't exactly pleasant to Dazai, he shivered a little holding onto the edge of his shirt.

Chuuya glanced back at Dazai but then shook his head and kept walking, they made it to the bathroom, a foggy hot space, "We'll bring whatever you need for the right price." Chuuya nodded, "10 gold for a towel and fresh bandages?" the madam considered it and nodded, "That's sufficient." she looked at the girl, "Sara, go and retrieve a towel and tell Laura to go and get bandages." the girl nodded fast and ran off.

Chuuya wordlessly handed the madam the coins, the madam counted them and nodded, "Good." she then started to walk off. Chuuya placed his chest against the wall, he sighed, "Come on, place your things here and get undressed," Dazai blinked as he put his chest next to Chuuya's and chuckled, "Oho? I didn't know Chuuya wanted to see me so badly-" the shorter smacked his face, "Ow!"

Chuuya started to unbutton his vest, "We have quite a few stops to go so we have to take chances to bathe when we can." he pulled it off his body, he looked at Dazai, "Come on, you are sticky." he dropped the vest and started to unbutton the other's shirt before Dazai smacked his hand, "I can do it myself I'm not a baby!" he huffed and started to get undressed.

Chuuya peeled off his shirt and pants, his underwear following, shoes and socks discarded, Dazai looked at him, he blinked a little before he snickered, "So that's where your height went." he teased, Chuuya looked at him and glared, "Don't make me tear you another ass crack Dazai." the other huffed before he returned to getting undressed, he peeled off the bandages begrudgingly as he had to remove them under Chuuya's scolding gaze.

Dazai's body was not a pretty sight, half his face sunken and broken from many attempts on his own life that were very fruitless, his body scared and battered, large keloids on parts of his body, hypertrophic scars on smaller parts of his body, his thigh having a large discoloured patch from a burn.

Chuuya stretched, popping his sore neck, "Took you long enough." he sighed as he went over to the water basin, it being a shallow well of hot water in the ground with steaming water. Dazai walked over and looked at it, "Be careful Chuuya you might drown in there-!" Chuuya elbowed him in the gut.

Dazai doubled over in pain, to which Chuuya wordlessly kicked him over into the bath, a loud splash ringing out before Dazai shot out of the water with a loud cry, "It's scalding!" he cried out, the other shook his head and got in far more calmly.

"This isn't that bad you drama queen."

"You're a maniac!"

Chuuya rolled his eyes and started to soak his hair and skin in the water, "Well get used to it, a lot of regions have their bath water this hot." he said casually as he took the soap and started to wash himself, Dazai whimpered before he subjected himself to coping with the heat of the water. "This is awful." he whined, "My skin is going to be all red!" he thought a second for a comparison, "Red like Chuuya's hair!" the other rolled his eyes.

"Dramatic much?" he chuckled, "Just wash up dumbass." he handed Dazai the bar soap as he started to rinse off the soap, Dazai looked at it putting it near his mouth before Chuuya said, "Soap is not lethal if injested." Dazai pouted at that and got to work washing himself. "Killjoy."

"More like realist." Chuuya rolled his eyes, the girl from before placed the towel and the fresh bandages by the luggage, she looked at them and called, "I can hang up your clothes to dry!" she offered, Chuuya looked over and nodded, "Go ahead sis." she puffed up her cheeks and picked up the still wet clothes and ran off.

Chuuya got out of the bath, Dazai gasped, "What?" the ginger looked over as he picked up the towel, "How did such a tiny tick get out of such a big water basin!?" Chuuya shoved Dazai's head underwater, Dazai may have no ability to die by drowning but he did feel the pain of water entering his lungs.

Dazai coughed when Chuuya freed him from the water, he looked at the offender with his one eye full of clear distain and annoyance. The ginger whistled as he dried himself off, Dazai huffed.

After Dazai sat down by Chuuya as the other started to wrap his body in fresh clean bandages. "You're making them too tight!" Dazai whined, Chuuya huffed, "Oh quiet down or I'll gag you." he groaned as he sufficiently tightened and tied the bandages. The younger man yawned, "I'm tired." he looked at him and tilted his head as Chuuya tied a bandage on his wrist. "We going to stay here and sleep? Or are we going to be leaving again right away?" Chuuya thought about it he looked up.

A drop of freezing rain water dropped on Dazai's nose and caused him cry out dramatically in surprise, "Ah!" Chuuya looked at him and shook his head, "Wow. So funny." he said, his tone soaking and dripping with sarcasm, like a recently soaked sponge. "Come on get up we need to get dressed." he stood and walked over their chests, he took out his own clothes, a button-up shirt, briefs, and some pants. Dazai stood behind him watching Chuuya get dressed.

He silently counted the freckles that covered Chuuya's body, his face, down his neck and across his shoulders and back. "Hey Chuuya did your mama feed you too many strawberries?" he asked in a teasing tone, Chuuya paused and turned his head in the other's direction, "The hell you on about?" he picked up a hairstick from his bag, it being a steel one with a pronged tip and a ram headed end.

Dazai huffed, "Don't you know that if you eat too many strawberries when you're young you'll get a lot of freckles and spots?" Chuuya narrowed his eyes, "That's a thing only in Novoselic." he scoffed as he put the hairstick in his hair and tied his hair back, the other blinked, "Only in Novo? I thought in Kalnas they'd care about appearances and preventing freckles." Chuuya sighed.

"It's a thing that started in Novo but that no one outside of Novo thinks about." he rolled his eyes, as he shut his chest, he latched it and looked toward Dazai, "Are you planning on staying naked?" he tilted his head raising a brow. Dazai blinked before he laughed, "Aww does Chuuya not like what he sees?" he pouted looking at him with a teary eye, "Does Chuuya not like me?"

Chuuya took a deep breath to keep calm. You can't kill him. You literally can't kill him. Trying is pointless. Trying is pointless.

"Dazai. Be decent." the taller chuckled a little, "Alright alright I will I will." he got to his chest and dressed in scuffed boxers, scruffed knee length shorts and a torn shirt. Chuuya stared at him, "Is that the outfit you tried to-... Actually no I'm pretty sure you tried to kill yourself in all your clothes." he rubbed his eyes. "Whatever. We'll get more clothes tomorrow."

He stood picking up his chest and walking out of the bathroom, they looked and one of the working boys looked at Chuuya, he gestured to him to follow, he did, Dazai very close behind him. "Here, you can sleep here for the night." the boy pointed to the large thin mattress. Chuuya nodded, "Thanks."

They set their things down and sat on the mattress, Dazai looked at Chuuya, "Well? Where are we going to go next?" he leaned on Chuuya's shoulder, he sighed, "Well we're going to stop over into a seamster and have them make you a step of clothes you haven't tried to kill yourself in." Dazai tilted his head, Chuuya groaned, "So it doesn't look like you had the shit beat out of you a bit ago."

Dazai snickered a little, "Aha aha alright Chibi!" he laid back onto the mattress, Chuuya hummed, watching as Dazai got comfortable, "Night." Chuuya nodded, "Night."

Chuuya however didn't sleep, unlike Dazai he didn't have the easy ability to fall asleep in any environment ever. And well hearing people having sex just down the hall didn't exactly make sleeping any easier.

Fucking hell.

Chapter Text

Chuuya sat up, he looked down at Dazai, he watched him as he was slowly waking up. The ginger rubbed his eyes, "You up?" the dark hair man rose, he huffed, "Up and starved." he looked at Chuuya, "We going to get food now? It's been ages!" he tilted his head, Chuuya considered it, Right, it's been a few days. We should eat.

He stood up, "We should ask where the nearest place to get some food." Chuuya rolled his shoulders, popping them as he stretched, Dazai huffed, "Did you decide this trip knowing nothing?" he snickered a little, "You tagged along knowing nothing." Chuuya playfully kicked him. Dazai laughed a little before he stood up, "Well I am doing this because it's stupid and reckless! The chances to die aren't 0!" he leaned closer to Chuuya and poked at his hair stick, the other shoved his hand back. "Leave it."

The shorter walked and looked for the nearest local that wasn't busy, he walked over and tapped a older girl on the shoulder, "Excuse me?" she looked at him, "Yes?" he folded his arms as he spoke, drumming his fingers on his arm, "Do you know where to get food?" he glanced toward Dazai before he looked back at her, "And clothes, you know the spots?" she thought a moment before she nodded, "There's the Yonagas down the road, their granddaughter is a seamstress." she fixed her robes.

Chuuya nodded, "I see, and a place to find food?" she considered it, "You have the best chances going into the market and looking around." she shrugged as she answered him, he just nodded, "I see, thank you." he retrieved his and Dazai's dry clothes and bringing them back to their own space, the other looked up at him, pausing his nail biting. "Chuuya!" he smiled, "You come to feed me yet?" he batted his eyelashes, he was not at all amused.

"We'll get food after we get you clothes that don't look like you got tossed into a pig pen." he shook his head, Dazai blinked, "Into a pig pen?" he then laughed, "I don't look that awful!" he howled with laughter, Chuuya packed their things into their chest, "Yeah yeah, whatever helps you sleep at night you walking corpse." he took his chest, "Get up, we'll be heading there now." Dazai huffed and got up, picking up his chest, "Let's go!" he chuckled a little.

Chuuya and Dazai walked out waving good bye to the working girls, Chuuya looked over outside before jogging outside with Dazai at his tail, he looked and noticed a local in his yard, "Excuse me!" the older man looked over, "What?" he narrowed his eyes, observing the two men, "Which house is the Yonagas?" he asked, the man pointed west, "It's the one on the left, third one there." Chuuya nodded, "Thanks!" he looked at Dazai before pulling him along.

The house was a tall clay building, many colorful cloths hung up lightly billowing in the breeze, Chuuya knocked on the door, a old man opened the door, "Yes? Who's there?" Chuuya bowed his head out of habit. "Hello, I'm Chuuya, is this the Yonagas? I heard that it was a place to get clothes and well..." he pointed towards Dazai, who looked at Chuuya innocently as if his clothes didn't say "I was used as a chew toy" the old man chuckled and nodded, "Ah you're looking for my granddaughter Angie! Come in come in!" he ushered the two of them inside.

Dazai looked around, it was simple, homey, a couple of chairs, an old woman sat knitting something, "I'll go call her down to tell her you're here for her." the old man said in a delighted tone, Chuuya nodded, "No problem we can wait." he leaned against a wall as he watched Dazai, making sure he didn't do anything stupid. Dazai watched the woman knit like a cat, his eye watching her fingers move and the needles click into the space. She giggled a little like a more youthful woman, "Oh dear, is my work so interesting to you?" she spoke in a amused teasing tone.

Dazai perked up and chuckled a little, "Well it's hard not to be interested in the work of such a lovely lady as you!" he smiled in a charming way, "Your work is so interesting as well..." he looked at the work moving down to be able to watch easier, she smiled, "Well aren't you just a dear!" she looked at him and her eyes softened, "What happened to you dear? How come you're all wrapped up?" she asked, her thin feeble hand touching his face and the bandages. Dazai shivered slightly and she pulled her hand back, "Oh sorry dear does it still hurt?" she gasped a little her hand going to her mouth, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to."

Dazai shook his head fast, "Oh no I'm fine! It doesn't hurt!" he put his hands up in surrender, he looked his head to the side to hide the bandaged side of his face, "It's just... Not pretty..." he chuckled a little, "I got hurt bad and now it is kinda messy." he touched his face, the bandages were like a second skin to him, he knew it was a odd sight but it was a bit shameful for a sweet old lady to ask about it. She nodded softly, "Oh I see, I'm sorry dear." she looked at him and smiled softly, "Do you want to learn how to knit?" she asked him lifting up her work, Dazai blinked, "Oh? Sure!" he smiled as he watched her hands again.

Chuuya relaxed slightly, the old man returned with a copper skinned and silver haired young lady at his side, "He's the one who wanted to buy some of your work." she looked at him curious, "Oh hello! It is a pleasure to meet you! I'm Angie Yonaga!" she took his hand and enthusiastically shook it, he blinked a little at the act but nodded, "I'm Chuuya, pleasure meeting you too." he chuckled a little scratching the back of his neck, "I want to pay for a set of clothes for my friend and maybe a set of clothes suitable for going out in rain." he looked toward the door where thunder seemed to crack almost as if on cue.

Angie nodded, "Oh yes! That is definitely recommended!" she looked at Dazai curiously, she smiled and pulled out her long measure, "I'll take both your measurements then!" she giggled a little, "I can go first." Chuuya said casually, she nodded, "You both can come upstairs and I'll be able to handle you both!" he listened, "Sounds good to me. Should I leave our bags by the door? I don't think it'll be easy to carry them up." she looked at the two chests, before she nodded, "Go right ahead!" he nodded and placed them both down.

Chuuya looked at Dazai, he whistled, "Oi! Dazai! We coming up now." the taller looked over and pouted, "Oh fine." he looked at the old lady and smiled, "Thank you granny," he got up and went over to Chuuya waving a little, the two of them climbed up the ladder up to Angie's room, which was full of fabrics on the various walls, a single bed and one table.

So many colors that made Dazai's eye sparkle a little, Chuuya stood letting Angie measure him, "All I need is something to be out in the rain with." she nodded fast as she made notes of his measurements on her arm with a wet charcoal pencil. "And him?" she asked pointing to Dazai who was busy looking at one patterned fabric.

"I think a fully set of clothes and a thing to keep out from the rain." she nodded and walked over to Kunikida, she started to measure him, not long after she whistled and her magic activated, various fabrics and thread coming off the walls as she started to work as she whistled a little tune. Dazai watched in great interest, he smiled brightly as he watched them fly around and change from fabric and thread to clothes.

Chuuya leaned back watching over the sight as well, he smiled a little, the sight able to temporarily silence his worries, it was a beautiful sight to him, it was enough to make a troubled man feel at peace even for just a few minutes.

Angie handed the completed garments, "Here!" Chuuya nodded and took out his coin pouch, "Thank you," he said handing her the pouch, she looked at him, with a single glance she nodded knowing, "Good luck on her travels!" she smiled, Chuuya and Dazai climbed down, the two putting on their ponchos and their hoods, Chuuya put the new clothes into Dazai's chest.

They waved and left, they started to walk up the road to closer to the station, Chuuya gulped, his heart started to ache with tension as he recalled the presence of the train station, the presence of the train station was very nerve-wracking, he knew it wasn't a danger on its own, but the idea of Mori finding them by going through the train system? That petrified him.

He shook his head as he walked over to the market square, Dazai looked around and sniffed the air, "So spicy!" he plugged his nose in protest, Chuuya laughed, "Of course! Sausuma is known for loving their spices." he shook his head, "Let's just find one selling food less spicy." Dazai laughed and shook his head, "I'm sure Odasaku would love to visit here! I'm pretty sure I can smell curry." he smiled, "When we make it back to Novo we should tell him!"

Chuuya smiled but he felt his heart shatter, he couldn't tell Dazai yet, he couldn't summon the words from his mouth, he couldn't. Not yet.

The two looked between carts and stands and people having prepared food the many smells wafting in the air, warm spices, hot food, the sound of bubbling pots and stews, the sound of interested chatter. Dazai looked around with a smile, Chuuya looked and saw a stew stand, he took Dazai's hand and lead him toward the stand, "Two stew please." the teller nodded, "6 gold." Chuuya took out the coins from his pocket and handed them over the teller started to pour them two bowls, before he handed the two boiling bowls of stew.

They walked and found shelter from the mist under a canopy made of stone and wood, using their chests as seats, Dazai sipped the stew and sighed, "This tastes funny," Chuuya shrugged sipping his own, "Probably cause it uses all the ingredients of the animal, here they toss nothing that can be eaten." Dazai looked at the bowl and continued to eat the stew, he took a moment to learn the flavour, earthy wooded spices and grass spices, pork and some potatoes.

The mist turned to rain, the two watched as the water droplets danced and made the streets like a river where the dirt roads were before, Chuuya sighed, taking the humid cold air into his lungs. The hot stew made the cold welcome as well as how the it filled his stomach filling him very slowly but in a way that satisfied him very nicely, in a way it provided him strength against the demons that were in his head.

Dazai looked out and chuckled, "Hey Chuuya you think I could die in that rapid?" the ginger man scoffed, "Don't you try it. I don't want to be getting wet fishing out your body when you fail to die." he shook his head as he looked at him, "It can kill but it can't kill you Dazai. I doubt anything can." the taller pouted, "Damn it." he whined as he shook his head.

Chuuya chuckled dryly, "Seems like you don't have a way to kill yourself yet huh?" he shook his head, "Oh how unfortunate you are, poor Dazai can't die when he wants to." Dazai blinked as he looked at him before started to laugh, he shook his head and gasped and wheezed. The other looked at him and smiled, he enjoyed to see him being so happy even if he knew there was something under the surface to bring forth the understanding of why he was trying to end his life so much. Chuuya decides that it will be a different day's discussion.

The rain stopped and Chuuya stood up finishing the stew in the clay bowl and he placed it on the floor, he picked up the chest he was sat on and looked at Dazai, "You done eating?" he asked tilting his head, "We got to find our next ride over to Dumbliai." Dazai raised a brow as he looked at him, "How about the train-" Chuuya put a finger to his lips, "Well it's far more fun to go through the long way! We'll be able to see a lot more on the way, I mean really what is the point if we go the easy way?" he spoke the words out in a ramble, praying in his mind that Dazai doesn't sense Chuuya's panic, the one hiding behind his mismatched eyes.

Dazai blinked a bit before he laughed, "Alright alright!" he grinned as he finished the stew and tossed the bowl, picking up his chest as he stood, "Well if we take the long way we'll have a chance to find a way to kill me!" he grinned like a excited kid, Chuuya nodded, "Yeah we'll do that." he chuckled a little relieved that Dazai didn't see anything behind him, didn't catch him just yet.

They started to walk to the edge of the town Dazai enjoying the look of the many ruins that were still lived in, the two walked and made it to where two men were packing a old wagon with various crates of various sizes. Chuuya looked at them and asked, "Where you going to be heading?" he tilted his head, one of the men looked at Chuuya, "We're heading to Kirba border." he answered before placing another crate into the wagon.

Chuuya considered the option before he asked, "You have space for two more?" the two men looked at him as they had put all the crates aboard, "If you're willing to be in with the crates." one joked and laughed a little. Chuuya nodded, "We are willing." the two men paused looking at him like he was crazy before they shared a glance and shrugged, "Fine. Get in."

Dazai and Chuuya climbed in and stayed inside the wagon by many crates. The two stayed close to one another, the taller man resting his chin on Chuuya's head, the other hissed, "I'm not your headrest asshole." he shoved him back a little which elicited a chuckle out of him. The taller man chuckled a little, "Alright alright." he shook his head before he just leaned back yawning.

Chuuya looked at him and pulled Dazai's head onto his shoulder, "Sleep. It's going to be a little while." he spoke in a firm but not harsh or coarse tone. Dazai didn't question it, he just shut his eye and let the rumble of the wagon under him lull him to sleep like a baby being rocked to sleep in the arms of his mother. Chuuya waited until Dazai was asleep before he tried falling asleep as well.

Chapter Text

Chuuya opened his eyes, he looked around and noticed he was back in Novoselic, back in Dazai's house, just outside of the basement, he slowly turned to the door and despite himself he took hold of the handle.

He phased through the door and collapsed onto the floor, the tile wet and cold, he shivered as he pushed himself up from the floor but he glanced and saw a rat squeak in pain before it's fur started to fall out rapidly, it squealed and thrashed as it's skin started to bubble and pop the bones melting and popping like one would expect of popcorn. It thrashed around and turned into nothing but a pile of viscera.

Chuuya staggered back staring at it, The hell?! He looked around rapidly and he saw the shelves of medical documents, the cages, the tables, the medical supplies new and old. Chairs that looked like they were repurposed from a prison, there were two, there were two people in the chairs.

He stood up fast and started to approach, Oda? Ango? Is that you? He tried to reach the metal crown over them to move it away, only to hear Ango's voice.

"You shouldn't be here."

Huh?

"It's not safe."

Chuuya quickly shook his head, he tried to pull the crown away, Hey come on! Let's get you two out of here! He yelled as he tried to pull it off but it was stuck in place.

"It's too late."

He took a step back, he looked for something to take it off but then he suddenly wasn't able to move, someone's hands around him and holding him to look toward the two bound men.

Ango's glasses slid off his face as his face melted like ice cream, his features falling away like toppings on the dessert, his skin falling off his bones, his eyes expanding and ballooning out before popping and splattering, the bones starting to crack and grow as if something was trying to escape as the brain started to ooze out of his sockets.

His jaw clattered as it dislodged from his skull and shattered on the floor into dust as the rest of Ango seemed to be mutating and falling apart, the sounds escaping his body as he seemed to be dying was a gutteral inhuman sounds that seemed to be spilling out of his throat, his voice only stopped when his throat bubbled and popped away and fell apart from him body, the stomach acid in his body seeming to burn out of Ango's stomach and onto the chair as his body was unrecognisable.

Chuuya stared in horror, he wanted to look away but the person holding him was making him watch, he couldn't shut his eyes either, what was he supposed to do?

His head was turned to look toward Oda's direction, his eyes widened as he say Oda's face start to bubble like a pot starting to over boil. No... No... No!

Chuuya tried to thrash around and escape from his captors hold, I don't want to look! I don't want to see it!

He however couldn't escape, the sight however wouldn't leave him, he was forced to watch as Oda was boiling, his skin popped like puss filled pores put on too much pressure, his flesh tearing and opening like some sick flesh flower despite Chuuya's cry.

The bones in Oda's body shattered and popped as if he was a vase being shot through. His tongue melting out of his mouth as his jaw fell open.

Chuuya was struggling to breathe as he felt tears burning in his throat and eyes as the wretched stench reached his nose and invaded his senses. He lifted his head to see who was behind him.

His heart stopped when he saw Mori's cold calculating face.

"You stole my son."

I...

"That can't go unpunished."

--------

Chuuya's eyes flew open as he panted, he looked around and he was still in the wagon, by the crates, Dazai in his lap. He slowly looked down, he didn't know when but the taller ended up in his lap. The shorter sighed and started to brush his fingers through the short dark locks, his racing heart slowly started to slow.

He brushed his fingers through his hair, it was almost therapeutic, it gave his heart some peace in the moment, it aloud him to be free from the fear and paranoia. He leaned back and sighed, I hope it goes smoothly... Can't let him go back...

Chapter Text

Chuuya rubbed his eyes as he noticed the wagon slow down, we must be at our stop now... He looked down at Dazai and tugged on his hair, making Dazai whine, "We're almost there." he said firmly, the younger raised his head with a groan.

Dazai raised his head and yawned, "Really? We're at Kirba?" he rubbed his eye as he sat back, "Yes. We're almost there." he looked toward Chuuya and rested his head on the shorter man's shoulder, "Why you wake me?" he whined, Chuuya rolled his eyes, "Oh hush. We have other things to worry about then your beauty sleep." he chuckled.

They held onto their chests before hopping out of the wagon. Chuuya waved, "Thanks lads!" the two men nodded, "No problem!" they yelled in return continuing on their way. Chuuya looked around, he saw a series of trees from the mangrove grove that Dumbliai was famous for. The Kirba border was where the line between Sausuma's territory and Dumbliai's territory was obvious, that being the clear divide between the type of vegetation and a river.

He narrowed his eyes looking at the flowing river. He sighed and looked at the directions of the river, "OK." he shook his head, "OK. OK." he took a deep breath, "Right. Right we need to find a boat to make it across." he rubbed his eyes, "Hey maybe we can swim across!" Dazai suggested pointing at the water, Chuuya shot him a sharp look, "That is a stupid idea. For one, I can drown." he gestured strongly, "For two, we can't swim in that without being sent away all the way to who the hell knows where." he jabbed his finger into Dazai's chest, "For three, we can't swim with our bags." he gestured at the water.

A fish jumped out of the water, "The Kirba border river is overrunning with fish that will eat your flesh off your bones!" Dazai blinked a bit and hummed, "Maybe they'll be able to kill me?" he snickered a little Chuuya dropped his chest and grabbed his shoulders and shook him, "Dumbass you can't die! That's just asking to be tortured by fish! Fucking fish Dazai!" he shook his shoulders, the other pouting.

"Fine I won't try to swim across!" he turned his head away, "Killjoy." Chuuya smacked his face, "Shut it!" he took hold of his chest again and looked around, his eyes catching on an old rusty sign, "Lord that looks like something from the war." Dazai laughed a little, he looked toward Chuuya, "Think anything from that era is still around?" he chuckled a little as the older man took out a map from his pocket, "Maybe, not much in use though," he hummed as he read the map.

"Kalnas still uses a lot of it's war time stuff but it's only for study not it's original purpose." Dazai listened along swaying on his feet in boredom, "Whereever shall we go next Chuuya?" Chuuya was wondering the same thing, considering very few travelled from Sausuma into Dumbliai like this, normally they took the train in, but Chuuya was determined to find a way there. Several reads of the map and Dazai leaned in, reading it for himself, "Hey Chuuya?" the older looked at him, "There's no way to enter Dumbliai from where we are. We need to find a way around." he said looking at him with a bored expression.

Chuuya groaned loudly, "I can't believe I didn't notice it sooner!" he shook his head facepalming, "We'll be walking for the next few hours to make it up to the trade crossing." he sighed and looked at Dazai who whined loudly, "A few hours?! We're going to walk for hours?!" he cried out in annoyance and pouted, "This is so stupid! I hate you Chuuya!" the ginger man rolled his eyes, "Oh shut up. It's only 3 kilometres on relatively flat ground you'll live." he shook his head as he looked around for the right direction of the trade crossing.

Dazai however continued to fuss and whine, "This is so stupid! I hate it here! Why do we have to walk?! Can't we wait for someone to come by and join them?!" he looked at Chuuya, his one eye sparkling with tears like he was a puppy begging for a piece of chicken from its owner's dinner. The shorter scoffed, "That could take hours or days." he started walking along the river, "Come on dumbass, we have a boat to catch." he spoke firmly, leaving no room for further argument.

Dazai whined, "Fine!" he started to jog a little to catch up to Chuuya, he walked with him huffing a little, his attention was then caught by some sights of the river, they were following it up stream and were able to watch as it flowed down and fish jumped up from the water and snapped for some bugs and attempts at catching birds. The grasses swayed in the wind as it flowed almost like a river of its own, some autumn blossoming flowers peaking out of the grass, some lempa mice running around between the grasses as they ran to get some food before hybernating through the winter in their dens.

"There are Lempa mice here? I thought they were a completely domestic species of mice." he spoke aloud looking where he saw the characteristic golden glow of the titular mice, Chuuya chuckled, "Well for the most part they are, I think the population here started because some of them got loose when trade caravans go by stop. Or some breeder had an accident and they lost them." Chuuya looked and pointed to what looked like a tiny burrow, "That's a lempa mice den, see?" he chuckled as Dazai looked at the burrow made and stuffed with weeds and straw.

A small little mouse looked around before slipping into the den and disappearing from sight, Dazai gasped a little as he watched it go, "Oh my..." he looked toward Chuuya, who chuckled a little, "You know I think that one has pinkies," the other blinked before his eye sparkled more, "Pinkies? As in it has babies?" he then laughed a little at how silly and innocent he seemed, Chuuya nodded, "Yup, the den looked very well packed, besides lempa mice have pinkies this time of year," he smiled.

He looked down the road, a beige fox going out from the grasses and to the river, waiting, Dazai watched with great interest as the fox snapped it's jaws and caught a fish when it jumped up from the river. "You think they're tasty?" Dazai laughed a little as he pointed it out to Chuuya, the elder snorted, "You like eating spoons? Cause last I tried those fish taste like iron!" he laughed, Dazai considered it before dropping his bag and running to the river, "I should catch one!" he laughed, Chuuya stared looking at him, "Dumbass what the hell are you doing?!" he yelled after him dropping his own bag to run after him.

Dazai looked into the water jabbing his hand into the water to grab for one of the fish. Only to get bit, "OW!" Chuuya pulled Dazai's arm out of the water and grabbed onto the fish, "Dumbass I told you it was a stupid ass idea!" the younger hissed as the fish's jaws were still on his hand, "You already called me a dumbass! Use a variety of insults when you're using them consecutively!" Chuuya shook his head as he focused on trying to free Dazai's hand from the jaws of the carnivorous fish.

"Well I'd be able to use other epithets if you didn't do stupid shit like this!" he managed to get the fish to open its jaws and release Dazai's hand, his hand bleeding a far lesser amount than most would expect for the placement of the bite, his curse making it so the wound was already clotting. "Let's cook it!" Dazai laughed grinning, Chuuya stared at him and looked at the fish, he considered it, it did have a lot of meet on it. Chuuya sighed and pulled his hairstick free before he used it to stab through the fish, killing it.

Dazai blinked and stared at him, "How did you know where to-" Chuuya shushed him, "I've done this a lot." he chuckled a little and lifted up the fish on the hairstick, "Now we are going to keep walking until we actually make it to our stop." he stood up and returned to the road picking up his chest, "We're burning daylight lazy cat!" Dazai blinked and returned picking up his own chest and starting to walk with Chuuya, "Lazy cat? I thought the phrase was 'Lazy daisy'?" the shorter rolled his eyes.

"Different regions, different terms of phrase for the same thing." he chuckled a little, the taller thought of it and considered it, "Hey how about a game?" he snickered a little as he looked at the freckled man with a mischievous smirk, "We say phrases and guess what they mean in our home region!" he looked at Chuuya batting his lashes. The shorter hummed as he twirled the hairstick in his hand, when he did the fish swayed subtly, "It would be a way to burn time while we walk." he sighed, the dark haired male lit up, "Yes!" he laughed excitedly.

"First!" Dazai skipped a little, "Oh I'm utterly hay bailed!" he laughed a little looking at Chuuya, who chuckled a little, "Hungover?" he answered as he walked with the taller, "Yes!" he looked at him and pointed, the shorter thought a moment before he spoke, "It's mountain shrinking weather." the younger listened and hummed, "Hmmmmm... Oh the weather is awful!" he laughed a little, Chuuya shook his head, "Nah, just raining." he smirked a little, Dazai whined, "Ah man!" he pouted before he kicked a rock under his shoe, "The queen's mourning!" he spoke the phrase aloud, Chuuya considered it, "Bad weather?" he offered.

Dazai pouted, before he nodded, "Yes, yes that's what the phrase means." he looked back at Chuuya and batted his lashes again, the other chuckled, "He's got nothing but rats in the sillow." the taller blinked, "The hell is that supposed to mean?!" he whined, "It'll be impossible to figure out what it means!" he fussed, Chuuya snorted and laughed, "Seriously?! It's something I've heard every old hag in my life say at least once!" he shook his head laughing some more.

Dazai groaned, "What's it about anyway?! A sillow of rats?!" he looked at the sky and the moving clouds before he spoke aloud again, "Is it some way of calling someone an idiot?" he looked toward Chuuya, he chuckled, "It's a way of saying someone is incompetent, inattentive, and idiotic." he smiled, Dazai blinked before he laughed, "Who did pissed off the old ladies that you've heard so many say that?!" he shook his head.

Chuuya laughed, "Oh where do I get started?!" he shook his head as dust was kicked up as they walked, "There was this kid, Kaido, he would always be jumping around between young men's training, he couldn't even land how to do the classic magic methods." he rolled his eyes pointing the hair stick at Dazai, "He's the only guy who I think would actually be better off having the curse of the hollow... No offense." the taller chuckled a little.

"Only some taken!" he laughed a little, "Though I can imagine what would lead you to say that about him!" he leaned in closer to hear more of the details like they were gossip happy teenagers, Chuuya smirked, "Well in school in Kalnas we're taught how to start channeling magic, on the first day he awakened his magic and proceeded to accidentally shoot a teacher with a water jet." he chuckled a little. Dazai blinked, "A water jet?!" he laughed in disbelief.

Chuuya nodded, "Wasn't the last time either!" he chuckled, "He'd always try to practice and a new disaster happened every time!" he looked ahead, he smiled a little as he thought back on it, "He once played an instrument so badly one of the other boys in our class Zenitsu lost his mind while playing the shamisen," Dazai leaned his head on Chuuya's shoulder he looked at him with a sparkly excited expression.

"He started playing faster and faster, louder and louder," Chuuya moved the hair stick around as to accentuate his story, "You could see sparks starting to fly from the strings!" he laughed and grinned as he remembered the story, "The more Kaido tried and failed to play his own the more Zenitsu increased his speed and volume until-!" Chuuya motioned with his hand an explosion, "Boom!" Dazai jumped a bit but continued to look at him with a lot of interest, "A shower of lightening rained down on everyone!" he laughed and grinned.

Dazai gasped and laughed, "Seriously?! A lightening shower?!" Chuuya nodded, "It was like a storm indoors!" he laughed, "My family had a heart attack the moment I came home with my hair standing up and sizzled!" he shook his head, his long red hair swaying about as he did, Dazai howled laughter, "Oh my! That is something alright!" he shook his head, "How did that kid make it to adulthood?" he tilted his head looking at Chuuya, who shrugged, "Honestly I have no clue either, he was stupidly lucky." he smirked.

The two continued to chat until they made it to their location, the area having multiple ports and multiple ships, Dazai whistled, "Well dang." he looked around, observing the many ships, there were many but they were small, enough to carry one shipment and 3 people to man the ship, all made of a pinkish wood that was reenforced with steel, them being bespeckled with fresh water barnacles along the bottom.

Chuuya chuckled a little, "Yup, now let's just see who's able to take us on." he looked around for a ship captain before he saw a ship crew carrying in fabrics, the shorter man started to walk over, "Hey, me and my buddy are trying to get into Dumbliai but we don't know any other way across besides this point." he explained, the three ship hands looked between each other and then back at Chuuya, "We can ask our captain if there's space." he nodded, "Alright, we can wait." he stood back, he looked toward Dazai, who seemed to quite bored.

Dazai leaned on Chuuya, "Think they'll let us on board?" he rested his chin on Chuuya's head, "It'll be my first time on a boat," he giggled, the shorter shoved him, "Don't do that." he scoffed, eventually after a couple of minutes one of the ship hands approached them, "We have space for you, just don't get in the way alright?" they said before starting to heard the two into the boat.

Chuuya nodded and he and Dazai found a space on a lower deck. They placed their things down and sat down, Dazai whined, "Chuu~ya my legs hurt!" he whined, the elder of the two only sighed, "Just sit down then, the pain will go away soon enough." he said as he sat down himself, Dazai looked at him before he sat down next to him, he glanced at the fish.

"You going to cook it?" he asked tilting his head, "How would you do that?" the ginger chuckled, "We're a few steps away from the furnace." he held the fish by the furnace, the sides of the fish starting to heat up and cook, Dazai chuckled a little, "Something so simple feels almost obvious now that you mention it!" he laughed a little covering his mouth.

Chuuya rolled his eyes, soon enough the fish was sufficiently cooked to a lightly charred state, he moved it back and blew on the steaming flesh before he took a bite, chewing on it before he sighed, "Tastes like iron." he handed it to Dazai, who eagerly took the fish and a large bite, he chewed on it and smiled, before he smile dropped as the taste of iron and some sour almost pickled taste reached him. "This doesn't taste good." he hissed, Chuuya chuckled, "That's what you caught for us to eat so eat." Dazai whined at the words before he started to eat again begrudgingly.

It was the start of their trip across the river.

Chapter Text

It was a start to them both when Dazai started to gag and shake as the boat started moving down the river, Chuuya stared at him as he stayed put on the floor curled up and gagging on nothing, "Is your stomach regretting the fish? I didn't cook it wrong." he spoke as he watched Dazai cover his mouth.

He stared down at him as the boat swayed again and Dazai gagged shivered more, Chuuya's eyes widened and groaned, "Oh good lord. You're sea sick." he facepalmed as he sighed, they were below the deck so they weren't exactly easily available to go outside and be able to have Dazai easily puke the entire contents of his digestive system into the river.

The lanky male raised his head looking at Chuuya, "Sea sick?..." he sickly chuckled, "We're in a river not-" he shut his mouth as he threw up in his mouth and swallowed the bile back down again. The smaller of the two sighed, "It's a phrase about being sick on a boat, comes from Banga and just became a phrase everyone uses." he explained as he watched Dazai suffer with his organs not staying in one place.

Chuuya blinked as he watched him be a mess on the floor, he sighed, "Yknow next time I think we shouldn't try going on a boat." he sighed as he thought about where that's lead them next, he took out his map and looked at the routes, tracing them with his fingers, Juosmuo shared a direct border with Dumbliai but the border was within the famous 'slibinu lake' meaning more of the ungodly sounds of Dazai's suffering stomach and gags.

He shook his head as he traced the other route, longer way through Kristi, which caused him to hesitate, while Dazai couldn't die of hypothermia and frostbite, Chuuya could and that was a great bother. It wasn't exactly something that he wanted to suffer with, but then again it was between that and more of Dazai's never ending gagging and retching followed by swallowing bile.

"Oi, Dazai." he poked him, "You rather freeze or go through more water?" he asked, Dazai stared at him in horror and cried, "No more boats! Chuuya please no more boats!" he whined laying on Chuuya, he held onto him tightly as if holding onto Chuuya will ground him enough to make his organs stop trying to rearrange themselves.

Chuuya chuckled and pet his head, "Alright alright." he sighed as he considered the options, it was very difficult to choose, he the recalled the waterway that went from Dumbliai to Banga, it was a simple walking journey as well, but it'd be about 5 days of travelling through the region from the capital.

It'd make the trip take even longer...

He looked down at Dazai and sighed, he'd have to deal with it. "Well there's this way through a long walking trail from the Dumbliai capital to Banga, from there we can travel through Banga and through Juosmuo..." he followed his finger along the path, "Through Kristi and Skalda and then to Kalnas." he sighed a little, that's months of travel.

Dazai nodded and chuckled a little, "I like the sound of that. Will we take the train back to Novoselic then?" he smiled sickly, his good eye wasn't facing Chuuya, and for that he was glad, for Dazai would be able to easily tell that he was hiding something. Chuuya brushed his hair back, "Planning the end of the trip already? And here I thought you liked this." he chuckled a little looking away, his voice luckily not betraying the inner turmoil in him.

"Oh I do like it! But it has to end eventually, I mean we do have to make sure Odasaku is doing fine after." he sighed curling up closer to him, "Was it a good idea to go without him? I mean is it a good idea to leave him alone when Ango's still missing?" Chuuya gulped, as a child he was always teased for being a bad liar, now he prayed that was a trait he outgrew.

"He told me it was alright, that he'd be visiting family." he answered, his heart was racing and he felt cold sweat pooling in the back of his neck, he looked down at Dazai who seemed to be relaxed in his lap, "Really? So he's gone home to Juosmuo to visit family?" Chuuya gulped, "Yeah he did, he's going to be there a little while." he chuckled a little, "He said he'd leave for the trip a little before us two." he combed his fingers through Dazai's hair.

"Hehe makes sense, he had been planning on visiting his family for some time now." he sighed a little swallowing his spit, "He did want to tell them that he and Ango wanted to talk to them about adopting a kid for themselves to become a family." he stared at him, Chuuya's heart froze, he felt locked in time. He hummed, "Yeah sounds about right." he looked up and looked at the walls around the furnace.

It was a set of bronze walls, and many crates of cargo around them, the light from the furnace being nice and warm, the crackling sound of the wood burning was pleasant.

But now Chuuya felt just as sick as Dazai did, he leaned back, "Ugh. I'm starting to feel yellow now too." he lied, but only slightly, he was dealing with a bit of nausea, but he wasn't feeling it for the same reason as Dazai, he wasn't motion sick, he would be a liar if he said he was. "Feeling yellow? Don't you mean feeling purple?" he chuckled a little, Chuuya rolled his eyes, "Well dumbass that's another phrase that's different between regions idiot." he flicked Dazai's forehead, enticing a whine from the tall lanky man in his lap.

"Chuuya's so mean!" he whined, the other rolled his eyes, "Yeah yeah whatever." he huffed resting his elbow on his chest, he looked at Dazai, "Judging by movement I think we'll be off in two hours." at that Dazai let out a sound of relief.

The boat eventually stopped and then were allowed off board, onto the varnished wooden boards that made the living areas of the marsh, the structures supported on stilts and support beams that disappeared into the murky green water with some area having some fencing mostly to keep children from falling into the water, it all being the familiar pinkish tone of the mangrove wood they had an abundance of.

Said fencing Dazai was gripping onto as hurled over the edge into the water as he finally lost control over his gag reflux, Chuuya patted him on the back as Dazai hurled the limited contents of his digestive system into the marsh water, when Dazai finished hacking out every piece of partially digested food out of his system he looked down and noticed some fish eating it. "Well at least someone is enjoying my sickness." he leaned back and sighed as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

Chuuya chuckled, "Yeah yeah. Anyway, let's find an inn, we need to find somewhere to stay the night." he picked up his chest and Dazai followed with his own, looking around at the many buildings, they were all quite lightweight using primarily wood and some weeds as insulation. The varnish used to color the homes as opposed to any sort of paint, the varnish was shiny and dim in color, the sort of streets of the region were made of high bridges, half moons that go over waterways to still allow boats to go under them, strong dark leather being used to hold them up, it being strong and taught.

Dazai looked into the water and noticed a soft green glow, he tugged on Chuuya's sleeve, "Hey Chu, what's that?" he pointed at it, the elder looked over to it, watching it float by, "That's a jaunas marsh cow, they're a little bioluminescent at this time of year," he shrugged, "I think it's trying to find a mate." he kept walking over the bridge and then to the other larger platform with buildings, Dazai chuckled and skipped behind him, "It glows to get laid? Seriously?" he laughed a little.

Chuuya rolled his eyes, "Yup. The brighter the better." he shook his head as he read sign boards as Dazai giggled and looked at the fall weather that was over Dumbliai in the moment. The sun was starting to slowly set, Dazai yawned as he followed Chuuya over into a inn. Inside was warm and airy, the receptionist tapping their pen on the page.

Chuuya walked over leaving Dazai by the door as he spoke to the receptionist, "You got a room?" he asked, the receptionist looked up at him, "Only one, single bed." he nodded, "How much for one night?" the receptionist took the key off a hook under the desk, "5 gold." Chuuya pulled the coins out and placed them on the desk before he took the key and looked at Dazai, clicking his tongue, "Up and at em'!" he called, the lanky male looked over and immediately walked with Chuuya down the halls.

Chuuya looked at the plaques on the doors before he made it to their room, unlocking the door, inside there was one small bed, a rug, a desk and the door leading to the bathroom. Chuuya walked inside and placed his chest down and groaned stretching, "Seems this in caters to tourists like us." he sighed as his back popped after being in the same position so long in the boat, Dazai shut the door behind himself. "Does it?" he looked around, "Looks like a pretty normal bedroom to me." he tilted his head looking at Chuuya as he dropped the chest beside Chuuya's on the grey rug.

"In Dumbliai they usually sleep in hammocks, my guess since this is in the capital it's the go to for tourists," he removed his cloak and folded it placing it on the table, he looked at Dazai who did the same, undressing enough to be comfortable, "Brush your teeth extra good, you only get the set you have now." he said as he yawned, shoving Dazai in the direction of the bathroom, "Besides your breath reeks." the other huffed, "Yours does too asshole!" he scoffed as he got up.

"Well at least I don't have vomit breath!" Chuuya rolled his eyes and opened his chest, taking out his toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste, he looked at Dazai, "You use a brush?" he asked as he took a cloth from his own, "You use a cloth?" they blink before they decide it's not worth asking questions anymore, they went over to the bathroom and Chuuya turned on the sink, he wet his brush before applying the toothpaste and starting to brush the days of built up plaque.

Dazai got to work on his own teeth, he hummed a little as he continued to work on his teeth, using the cloth to wipe off the build up and scrub the toothpaste into his teeth. After a few minutes they spit the toothpaste and washed their cleaning instruments before they went to the bedroom again.

Dazai flopped down on the bed and it creaked under his weight, Chuuya shrugged and laid down next to him, there was very little room on the bed, if they were honest, it was a bit stuffy unlike when they shared in Sausuma, "There's no space in here." he huffed. Chuuya sighed, "Yeah. Well, it's just for the night." he got comfortable best he could next to Dazai, "Try sleeping." he shut his eyes, Dazai nodded, "Alright then." he sighed.

Eventually Chuuya and Dazai fell asleep, despite how uncomfortable the bed was, them being very close, the space so small that it would be shocking if someone wasn't kicked off the bed.

Chapter Text

In his dreams he felt very warm, fingers running through his hair. He opened his eyes.

He was met with the view of a flowering white field.

Dazai noticed he was in someone's lap.

He tried to lift his head to look and see who it was, only to be pushed down a little.

"Mano rožiutį, there's no need to lift your head up, stay comfortable."

It was a soft soothing motherly voice, Dazai relaxed and stayed on her lap.

He let her continue to comb his hair with his fingers and he shut his eyes again.

She started to sing an odd lullaby he didn't quite understand.

Down by the river~

Down where I met my love last

Where we did part

That's where I found my love

Down with the gold in the river~

Down by the river

Down down down~

I see my love shining with the gold as the river makes us part

Down by the river~

Dazai opened his eyes again as he looked at the daisies were surrounding him, he reached his hand and noticed his arms were smaller, more childish, he was little again...

She kept singing the same verses, her voice sweet as honey and soothing to the soul like tea was to a sore throat when they were sick.

Down by the river~

Down where I met my love last

Where we did part

That's where I found my love

Down with the gold in the river~

Down by the river

Down down down~

I see my love shining with the gold as the river makes us part

Down by the river~

Dazai turned his head in an attempt to get a look at her, all he managed to see was floor length curling brown hair, the rest he couldn't see, he could only hear her.

He blinked a bit as the sky grew darker with some clouds, he tried to speak but she only scooped him up and started walking, still singing the same verses.

Down by the river~

Down where I met my love last

Where we did part

That's where I found my love

Down with the gold in the river~

Down by the river

Down down down~

I see my love shining with the gold as the river makes us part

Down by the river~

He rested his head on her shoulder, enjoying her warmth as she held him to her bosom, he shut his eyes slowly again, able to let go.

She finished the song and pet his head, "I love you Osamu, I always will." she whispered into his hair before Dazai slipped out of the world of sleep.

-------------

He awoke to the sound of Chuuya groaning and hissing, "You kicked me off asshole!" he whisper yelled at him, Dazai blinked and rolled over, stealing the blankets the first chance he got, "Hey! Dazai!" he scolded in a low tone.

Chuuya scoffed and rolled his eyes before he returned into bed and laid down. He fell back asleep soon enough.

Chapter Text

Chuuya sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes awake before he got dressed, he made sure to pack up his chest and shut it, he looked at Dazai's before putting in the things he wouldn't wear in it. It took a few minutes for Dazai to wake up after, he slowly sat up and yawned stretching, his spine popping as he did so.

"What are we going to eat?" he asked yawning, "We'll stop by one of the nearby stores, they'll probably have a few meals." Chuuya answered as he started to braid his long hair using a ribbon to tie it off as Dazai got dressed more properly, "Alright alright." he looked at the shorter again and leaned on him and draped his arms around Chuuya neck, "What are we going to carry and have snacks in? We only have our travel chests! And those are such a hassle to open." he huffed.

Chuuya thought about it, He is right about that... He sighed running his hand through his hair, "Right. Right." he shook his head, "We do need to get another bag." he took out the map and looked closer into it, Dazai leaned in closer, "Hey Chuuya?" the shorter huffed, "What?" he rolled his eyes, "That map doesn't have shops." he pointed but avoided touching it.

Chuuya groaned rubbing his eyes, "Good fucking lord." he hissed out the words, "Fuck it we'll just ask someone on the way." he folded the map and put it in his pocket, "Alright, let's just go." he picked up his chest, Dazai shrugged and picked up the chest and started to walk with him. Chuuya returned the key and they then left the inn, "Alright, we start down gėlo vandens path and keep going that way." he pointed, the other nodded, they started down on the path.

It was still early in the morning, only some animals were awake as well, some chirping sounds in the trees, Dazai lifted his head looking up into the canopies. He is met with a large beady eyes, he gulped a little as he stared back and walked past, "How come are we going so early in the morning?" he whispered to Chuuya, who rolled his eyes, "It's not that early." he kept walking and made it across a bridge.

One of the shops flipped a sign to open, the lights inside turned on, Dazai looked at Chuuya, "A store!" he laughed a little, "We going in or not?" he smiled, he looked at it and he walked over to the door, peaking in through the glass window, inside were food stocked on shelves and some other camping supplies. "It feels almost too convenient." Chuuya sighed as he opened the door and walked in.

Inside there were many towering shelfs, the bell at the door ringing as they made it inside and the door shut, Chuuya picked up a basket and started to carry it as he and Dazai made it over to the first of the shelves with camping supplies, he placed his chest down and picked a almost obnoxiously large sleeping bag in a dark blue color, he threw it into the basket, "Why that one?" Dazai asked narrowing his gaze at the sleeping bag, "It doesn't seem to be much better than anything else we could buy." Chuuya sighed as he looked back up and started to choose between the other supplies, "Well genius it's cheaper to get one big one and share it instead of buying two." he sighed out the words as he pulled out a military style backpack from the shelf.

He passed it to Dazai, "You carry that." he said firmly as he picked up the chest and basket, he continued walking and added a set of stainless steel cutlery and mugs, it having 2 mugs, and two sporks the end of the handle being a knife. Chuuya looked at the other items before he sighed, he picked out a tent, a small more childish tent but one that felt sturdy and thick, his focus being to find the best for when they'd travel through Kristi. He looked and noticed a gas lamp and that came with a large box of animal fat, he picked them up and added them into the cart regardless, he looked at the price tag and bit his tongue, you need this. You need this Chuuya.

Dazai pathetically attempted to whistle as he walked behind Chuuya carrying the bag in his arm, they made it to where the food was in the store, there were many options, bread, dried foods, bottles of drinking water and other drinks, Chuuya grabbed a couple of water bottles and put them into the basket, he grabbed some cans of fruit preserves, some cans of beans, and some jerky. Dazai looked at him, "Can we get some candy?" he asked as he put on a puppy dog eyes look. Chuuya slowly looked at him, he narrowed his eyes before he sighed and picked out a tin of hard candies.

Dazai laughed a little, "Thank you papa Chuuya~" he spoke in a teasing tone, the shorter shot him a glare, "Don't call me that again." he growled, "Call me that again and I might take out my belt." he backed up and went a little pale, "Sorry!" he cried out in faux fear. He then started to laugh a little, Chuuya shot him a glare before he put the tin back on the shelf to Dazai's dismay.

"Chuuya you can't do this to me!" he whined and fussed, Chuuya rolled his eyes, "Shut it! You're not 4!" he shook his head, "Besides where I'm from if a kid acted like that he'd get his ass beat until it was red!" he hissed shaking his head. Dazai blinked a bit before he went silent and went with Chuuya over to the front of the store to the cashier, Chuuya placed the items on the counter.

"Your total is 45 gold." the cashier spoke in a tired tone, yawning covering her mouth as she spoke, Chuuya sighed, he recoiled slightly at the price of it, he sighed and took out his pouch and started counting the coins, he gulped a little as he handed all of the gold over to the cashier, he took everything outside, he put the things down and looked back at Dazai, "Let's get everything put in, we'll get moving soon enough." he took the bag and started to pack it with all of their food, Dazai sat watching him, he looked at the tent. "That seems a little small." he said casually.

Chuuya rolled his eyes, "That's what you're worried about? Not our days on the road?" he huffed as he zipped up the backpack. He put the water bottles into the pockets. "Well how much gold do you have?" he asked looking up at Dazai. He blinked, "I have like 25 gold in my chest." Chuuya sighed and nodded, "OK. OK." he hummed, "Well we only have 25 gold until we make it to Juosmuo." he sighed.

Dazai blinked, "Seriously?" he tilted his head, Chuuya sighed, "Well, simply put, I hadn't exactly fully planned the trip but well, I have a savings account in Juosmuo we can access." he stood up and slung the bag around his shoulders, grabbing his chest, "Now, let's keep walking, we have places to be." he started walking and Dazai followed behind him, while he also took in the sights of the things around him.

The terrain really grew alive as the day started, animals coming out to collect food for the winter, some fish and they again saw more manatees drifting through. Dazai softly hummed as they walked, "Chuuya, are we going to be sleeping together in that tent from now on?" he asked tilting his head, Chuuya nodded, "Yup. No more inns or hotels, this way we don't have to spend money." Dazai narrowed his eyes, "But how will we bathe?" he asked in faux concern.

"Afterall Chuuya has such long and pretty hair! It'd be a shame to neglect it!" he picked up the braid and chuckled a little, Chuuya snatched it out of his hands, "Well smart ass I have soap with me, soap and toothpaste so no fussing." he rolled his eyes, "Like you actually care about hygiene. You reek half the time." he scoffed, Dazai gasped, "Chuuya that's so mean!" he cried before he started to laugh.

Chuuya rolled his eyes, "Am I wrong?" he chuckled, the lanky man huffed and laughed a little, "Whatever!" he and Chuuya continued walking until the sky started to turn dark, the few lamps by buildings were lit, Chuuya looked around, they were still not far from where the majority of the population was, still many residential buildings around, he sighed softly.

"Looks like we'll be walking a lot longer."

"Aw man!"

"Shut up. You're the one making us walk this long dumbass."

Chapter Text

Shirase yawned as he finished leading all the horses to their stables after they returned from their long walks around the kingdom, most were already heading in further to sleep, some dunking their heads into the water to drink more after a long day of pulling carts and carriages. The silver haired man leaned back against the barn wall, "Jeez. You'd think that the tourists would get tired of this this time of year." he pulled out his pack of cigarettes placing one between his lips.

It was starting to drizzle outside, the light tapping of rain on the roof being additional ambient noise as Shirase lit the cigarette with his fingers, snapping them to get the spark he needed, he took a slow drag when he heard the sound of the stable doors opening, he rolled his eyes at that, "We're done for the day! Come back tomorrow morning!" he yelled into the dim light of the stables.

But no one responded.

Shirase paused at that, all he could hear was the sound of rain outside, "Weird, I thought I heard the stable door." he looked over to one of the donkeys, he puffed out the smoke facing down, "You hear anything Donny?" he asked raising a brow as he looked at the older donkey, who raised his head from the troff and looked up at him with a disinterested look. The young man shrugged, "Eh. Must have been the wind." he shook his head as he was about to return the cigarette to his lips when something in the dark caught his eye.

It was the figure of a tall man in some sort of coat, Shirase narrowed his eyes as he attempted to figure out if what he was seeing was just a shadow or something else entirely, his cigarette burning in his fingers. He slowly took a puff before he looked back to where the shadow was, in a blink it seemed to be far closer than before, "The hell?" he took a step back dropping his cigarette on the ground without thinking, it falling on some sand.

He turned to the other stable doors before a cold hand grabbed his wrist, the hand having long bony fingers that gripped him so tightly one would be worried for if the circulation would be cut off, Shirase's finger tips turning a bit bluer at how strong the grip was. "The hell?!" he cried and attempted to shake the hand off his wrist, his head turning to see who had grabbed onto him so tightly.

A pale gaunt face stared back at him, violet eyes in sunken sockets, ones that appeared even deeper with the dark eye bags that were such a deep purple that one would be able to mistake them for black, slick almost slimy, greasy black hair framed the sharp features of the face of a man that had clearly not eaten in days, let alone stepped outside to see the sun. His clothes were wet and dripping from the rain outside, his palms freezing cold as if one were touching ice in the middle of winter.

Shirase felt his heart race as every single cell in his body told him to run, run as far as he could and never turn back, like a frightened rabbit he realised the situation he was in, stuck in the talons of a predator about to take him as its dinner. He attempted to break his wrist loose, "Hey! Let me go asshole!" he yelled aš loud as he could, praying that the sound would catch his old boss's attention only to get slammed against a wall and a hand holding his jaw shut.

"Shhhh..." the older man whispered in a low tone, his musty breath tickling Shirase's face, causing the young man to shiver, terror coursed through his veins rapidly as he was stuck, like an animal in a snare. The hand on his jaw the same as a ever tightening rope, the nails of the stranger cutting into his skin. "There's no use yelling boy..." the voice that left the elder was that of a scratchy, tired yet somehow determined and furious voice.

Shirase stared at him with wide eyes. He shook slightly as he attempted to figure out how to get away put he was too strong to push away. He was stuck, unable to get away from the person in front of him, "Tell me, where is Osamu Dazai?" he asked, the younger paused, He's looking for that guy with Chuuya? the glimmer of recognision in his eyes sealed his fate.

"Where is he?" the words came out with the sound of cold hot fury, Shirase gulped, "I-I don't know, I only saw him off nothing el-" his head got slammed against the brick wall, "Where. Did. He. Go?" normally Shirase would keep his mouth shut about where people traveled but right now wasn't a time for client confidentiality.

"He-he took a cart going to Sausuma that's it!" he cried as his eyes started to prick with tears from the pure gut wrenching pain, "That's all I know! He went to Sausuma!" the man gripped his jaw glaring at Shirase, "Please don't kill me I beg-!"

He was cut off when a sharp needle shot into his neck, a acid like pain shooting through his entire body as the area of injection started to bubble, Shirase cried out in pain as he was dropped to the ground and discarded, his skin popping and flesh melting off his shattering bones. The marrow in his bones seeping out and boiling out as Shirase cried out in pain, his eyes popping out of his skull.

The man left him behind, "I'll find you... Osamu..."

The stable doors shut and the oil lamp Shirase had set up earlier, ran out of fuel, bathing the stable in the darkness.

Chapter Text

Dazai yawned and whined, "Chuuya! It's so late! Can't we go to bed?" he pouted a little, Chuuya sighed, he had to admit, they had been walking for ages, they walked for about 11 hours, only stopping for bathroom or snack breaks, Chuuya felt the strain, he knew Dazai felt it too, Chuuya had been carrying the oil lamp for some time, he knew it would be not too good for them too keep walking now, the moon was high in the sky, if anyone had to estimate, it was reaching midnight.

"We need to find somewhere to set up camp." he looked around, it was so late no one but them and whatever nocturnal creatures lay bump in the night, "Seriously? Camp? Out here?" Dazai shook his head, "I can't see anywhere here where we can set up a tent easy, it's not exactly easy." Chuuya sighed, that was obvious, the primary hold they had was the wood that they walked on for the past 11 hours. If anything, trying to set up a tent on that wasn't impossible but it wasn't recommended.

"Well if we got to sleep we got to set up the tent." he looked back at Dazai, "We going to set up the tent here or keep walking?" the younger man considered it, he didn't necessarily need sleep to function as he normally would, but at the same time, he was also aware that Chuuya did need sleep. At that Dazai could feel his legs absolutely burning and begging for him to take a break and stop walking for at least 10 minutes.

Dazai leaned in to take a closer look at Chuuya, he narrowed his eyes, it was dark outside of the lamp's light, he traced Chuuya's features, he noticed the tired look, he briefly felt a pang of guilt for the previous night's event of kicking him off the bed and waking him. "How about we find a place to set up camp and sleep a while?" he chuckled a little, "It's been a while since we've sleep on something solid for a while." the other looked at him and sighed, "Hold the lamp," he said sternly shoving it in his direction.

The other did holding it with one hand and looked back at him, seeing Chuuya pull out the map, he looked down at it, "I'd say, we have about two hours before we make it camp grounds." he sighed as he looked down the pathway, it was so dark and eerie, oddly more so than when there were animals awake and moving, hearing nothing but his and Dazai's footsteps added to his existent persistent tention.

If there was anything Chuuya was certain of in his years of life, it was that he didn't want to be setting up camp away from people, at least, not now. "Let's just keep walking." he folded the map and returned it to his pocket taking the lamp from Dazai, who seemed to be more concerned about the long walk, "2 hours? You've got to be kidding me Chuuya that's too long!" he whined, the shorter only rolled his eyes. "Well too bad, that's how long we're walking." he hissed before he started to stumble a little, he paused in his stride and Dazai did as well, looking his way and tilting his head.

He looked down and he sighed as he realised what the sensation was, "Chuuya?" the other only shook his head, "Just feeling some strain, no big deal." he huffed as he continued walking, though Dazai was unconvinced, he walked next to him for a few minutes before he made his observation, "You know, I think you need a break, I mean you can actually feel more pain than I do." he leaned in closer to Chuuya's level, "Isn't it time to sit down even just a little while?" he blinked his one eye almost innocently at Chuuya.

Chuuya hissed, "I can still walk! It doesn't hurt that bad!" he shook his head as he looked forward down the dark path, "I used to run 3 kilometres daily you know! In classes it was mandatory!" Dazai's attention was caught by this, "Seriously? You ran 3 whole kilometres every day?" he asked tilting his head, he appeared similar to a curious puppy, Chuuya smirked, Got it.

"Yup, my instructor was this guy, Fukuchi Ouchi, he was a complete stickler for a certain type of man." he shook his head as he kept walking, he knew he had Dazai's attention now, the prick was very interested in getting all sorts of information and mildly entertaining stories, "The old bastard would make us boys run the same distance he did every day as warm up before we got started on our actual classes." he hummed as he remembered the details, "According to him 'It builds stamina! Perfect for young men!'" Chuuya laughed as did the impression, he smiled at the fond memories.

"The man was bawling every time one of his boys graduated!" he laughed looking at Dazai, who snickered too, he laughed a little, "Bawling?" he parroted with a snicker, Chuuya nodded, "Yup, tears absolutely streaming down his face in pure joy and pride in every one of us!" he chuckled a little, he smiled softly to himself as he felt warm, wonder how he's doing now. Dazai looked at him and smiled, "Another story? Maybe like one of those boys things gone wrong?" he snickered a little, Chuuya rolled his eyes, he knew Dazai was partially asking from boredom and partially because he was curious by the more 'exotic' nature of Chuuya's upbringing compared to Dazai's own.

"Well, one day some brats decided to go poking around a cave, the Sawyer kids, copying mommy and daddy and deciding to poke around a cave," he chuckled a little as he shook his head, "Two 10 year old kids poking around in a cave all on their own? That's a recipe for disaster." Dazai leaned in closer his eyes that of a cat eyeing a piece of prime tuna, "And then?" he batted his eyes a little curiously, Chuuya chuckled a little, "They sent us boys, along with all the adults into those caves to poke around until we found them! Dead or alive!" he shook his head.

"We poked around the whole cave until we find an opening, turned out those two slipped out through that hole and stuffed themselves silly on some tasty berries and were out cold in the grass." Dazai started to snicker, Chuuya continued to tell the story, "The rest of us wasted a day off getting dirty poking around a cave getting chased by rats and bats meanwhile those brats were just enjoying some berries!" he laughed shaking his head, "My old boots still smell like rat shit!" Dazai broke out in a fit of laughter, Chuuya smiled as he willed himself not to show any signs of his pain, refusing to stop walking and let Dazai see that he was truly suffering from the long walking pain.

They made it over to the campsite, most of it deserted, Chuuya gulped, It's late, they're probably just asleep. He reassured himself internally, he knew it was logical but that didn't stop his heart rate from picking up...

He'd never been afraid of the dark, nor had he been afraid of being alone, he didn't learn the technique of shadow metamorphosis because he was scared of being alone in the dark. But the omnipresent knowledge that Mori was probably already hunting them, already knowing that Dazai had been stolen right from under his nose, that likely, he was already looking for the two men, and that he'd have Chuuya's head on a pike.

Chuuya dropped down his chest on an unoccupied dry patch of dirt, handing the lantern to him, I'd be lucky if I just got my head on a pike. He shivered as he was struck by the memories of that night...

Ango's glasses.

Oda's screams.

Mori's cold explanation and taunt.

The tile floors.

The smell.

The ginger swallowed down the bile as he placed down the bag and started to set up the small tent, using the practice he had from when he was a child and all the memories of setting up tents and him and his peers arguing about who would do what on the camping trips they had in the hot summers, where their biggest problems were mosquitoes and who ended up stuck with Zenitsu who kicked and punched in his sleep, or Victor who still often wet himself in his sleep.

He smiled at the memories, those were the days he now dearly missed, where his biggest problem was mosquitoes and the possibility of getting stuck with a bed wetter during a camping trip as punishment for rough housing with his friends. Now his biggest problem was out running a crazed doctor without exposing that to his dark haired companion, he set up each of the sticks of the tent and kicked down the pegs to make sure that they held their tent in place in the ground, Dazai holding the lantern beside him waiting for a say so that they were able to go in and sleep.

"You are pretty good at this." Dazai commented breaking the silence, "I didn't think Mr. Fancy pants would be the kind to be able to set up a tent like this." he snickered a little, he smirked as he looked at Chuuya, who found it in himself to feel annoyance, no matter the current state of his paranoia he still had to deal with a very annoying companion that he had chosen to take with him, to pull him along and take him free from Novoselic and free from Mori's clutches.

"Oh shut up, I was one of the many boys put into classes," he rolled his eyes, he looked at the tent and made sure everything was set up properly, "Part of it was camping." he sighed as he managed to get the tent fully set up, he grabbed the sleeping bag and placed it inside, run rolling and unfolding it, it was thick and long, Chuuya wouldn't be surprised if it was meant for a Smilkti, a beast trained to go and make sure fare dodgers don't stay on trains, one Chuuya wasn't fond of. It was creepy to him, well that was part of the point of the things, scare people so that they didn't stay on the train longer than they were supposed to.

Dazai chuckled, "Oh really? And did that involve buying a massive sleeping bag?" the ginger elbowed Dazai in the gut when he stood up, "Shut it." he growled as he glared at him, "Put your shit in the tent and take off your shoes before getting in the sleeping bag." he spoke in a strict tone as he put the other things in one side of the tent. Dazai shrugged and listened climbing inside the tent, discarding his shoes on one side of the tent, one that had the whole floor covered in the sleeping bag that could fit 4 kids and have enough space to not have them fight over there being not enough space to share.

Dazai moved into the sleeping bag as Chuuya zipped the tent shut, he looked at the younger before he moved into the sleeping bag beside him, he turned the lever of the lamp so it went out, saving the remaining oil, oil that would harden and become solid again by morning.

The shorter laid next to him and got as comfortable as he could next to Dazai, who laid next to him in the darkness, waiting for the other to fall asleep first, Chuuya's blue eye seemed to almost glow in the darkness, "What? You want a bedtime story?" he asked with a dry chuckle, Dazai rolled his eyes, "I don't need one, but if Chuuya's offering-" Chuuya shoved him, "Oh shut up, you're an idiot." he chuckled a little.

Chuuya thought about it and then he smiled, "Well, I can say that you have the most tolerable bedtime habits, my other tent mates would often be kickers or squirmers," he chuckled a little as he remembered the days he spent as a kid, stuck with his buddy Albatross, whom he unfortunately always forgot was prone to kicking and rolling in his sleep, he had never properly learned his lesson to not share a tent with the guy despite everything.

Dazai chuckled a little at the comment, "You say that like I didn't kick you off the bed last night." Chuuya rolled his eyes as he jabbed him, "Shut up." he growled, the two grew quiet and eventually Chuuya fell asleep, Dazai followed soon after, curled up next to him. Their sleep as steady as it could be.

Chapter Text

Chuuya silently awoke as morning came, he didn't feel all that rested but he didn't exactly find it in him to sleep any more than he had earlier, he had fallen asleep around midnight, he sighed rubbing his eyes. I'm not sleeping good until I make it home...If I make it home.

He sighed rubbing his eyes as he slowly sat up, he climbed out of the sleeping bag, he opened the sleeping bag and peaked outside, it was a bright sunny, but chilly day, he sighed softly, Fine walking weather. He took out the map and started to read it, using his finger to trace the path to their next stop, the next campground was a 7 hour walk along the same path, a water stop being on the way.

Chuuya glanced at Dazai and he noticed that the other was still asleep, he sighed. It's probably only 6 in the morning. He shook his head at the thought, he was both annoyed and amused by how he had slept so few hours, he knew that if he kept this up he wouldn't exactly be doing any better than before. If anything he'd keep getting worse and worse, Chuuya could already hear Fukuchi's booming voice in his ear scolding him for staying up too late and waking up too early...

Or he was starting to hallucinate from sleep deprivation.

Chuuya rolled his eyes and shook it off, he looked into the bag and took out the open bag of jerky, he took one of the pieces and started to eat it, Breakfast for today. He hummed as he ate the simple beef string jerky, he looked at Dazai as the taller man slowly awoke, yawning and stretching, "Good morning Snow white." he chuckled a little as he handed him a piece of jerky, "This is our breakfast today." Dazai sleepily hummed as he bit into the jerky.

"Nothing else?" he whined a little as he was chewing on the jerky, Chuuya rolled his eyes as he put the jerky back in the bag, "Yup. We'll be snacking on the way, we'll be walking 7 hours today." Dazai stared at him, the jerky falling out of his mouth, "7 hours?!" he stared at him, Chuuya chuckled a little, "You say that like we haven't already walked 11 hours." he rolled his eyes as he smirked, "That's until the next camp ground, there we'll rest and stay a little longer." he shrugged as he unzipped the tent entrance fully and put on his shoes.

Dazai pouted, Chuuya took their things out as the other climbed out and put on his shoes, he groaned as he stretched out more fully as the older started to roll up the sleeping bag and disassemble the tent and securing boy to the bag, once done the two took their bags and started walking again. The lanky man yawned his jaw popping a little as he walked with Chuuya. "Will we be taking any breaks or will it be like yesterday?" he huffed as he turned to Chuuya, he narrowed his eyes as he gave the man a very pouty look.

The ginger rolled his eyes, as if he didn't feel what Dazai was about to complain about in his own body, he himself knew that the body strain would result in some new definition in their legs. As well as Dazai throwing a fit. "My legs still hurt from yesterday!" he whined and fussed leaning back as he looked at him, Chuuya rolled his eyes, "We'll stop at a water stop after 4 hours." he chuckled a little as he heard the sound of Dazai whining, "4 hours?!" he whined, Chuuya laughed, "Come on! You walked 11 hours straight no problem yesterday!" the other glared at him with his good eye, "You shitting me Chuuya?!" he yelled.

Dazai shook his head, "I can't believe this! You think walking for 11 hours is at all fun!?" he shoved Chuuya who laughed a little more, he stumbled a little but it didn't stop him in his stride, "You mad man!" he yelled, "Oh come on! It's not like it's all that bad!" he shook his head as he continued walking he walked in a confident playful stride, "You've been listening to me telling stories and you've been enjoying the sights haven't you?" he chuckled as he looked at his companion.

He rolled his eyes, "I can't believe you," he pouted as he looked to the side, he looked as he noticed the marsh land starting to grow more and more dry and less fluid, he looked forward, seeing the way forward and seeing the trees altering, mangroves mixed with some different kinds of trees. Dazai chuckled a little, "Well I guess I do like the stories and the sights." he looked at Chuuya again and laughed a little, "I am quite fond of seeing all these things, I love seeing all of the sights and hearing all of the stories!" he laughed as he grinned brightly.

The two continued walking along the path, Dazai looked at the trees as they changed, the terrain becoming that more similar to a swamp, more trees and taller stick like plants, he looked up into the canopy seeing the sun peaking out of the leaves and made them appear to glow, Dazai smiled as he observed it, "Y'know Chuuya?" the other looked at him and hummed to signal the other to keep talking, "When Odasaku would write some of those fancy descriptions of the world, but now that I am left with little to do but look," he chuckled a little as he looked over at Chuuya.

"I see why you artistic types describe these things so nicely, they are so pretty when you pay attention." Dazai smiled as he looked at the leaves again as some wind kicked up some of the red and orange leaves that danced around in the air, they had been fluttering down the way to the river waterway as they started to drift and travel down stream. Chuuya chuckled a little, "Ah you finally seeing the worth of life huh?" he smiled as he watched the scenery, "This is the kinda of things that we artists like to cover, make the mundane beauties be more extraordinary to the lay man." he smiled as he walked down the path with Dazai at the side, the boards under their feet creaking slightly as they were making it down the pathway.

Dazai looked at Chuuya, he raised a brow, "Make the mundane extraordinary huh?" he chuckled a little as he looked at him, he tilted his head like a curious puppy, "That's what you do?" the ginger chuckled a little, "Well I can explain it with examples, that way is way more fun." he looked at Dazai and then on the road ahead, seeing as a mouse ran past on the pathway, "If I were to describe myself in a way that I would in writing..." he hummed as he considered it and smiled a little.

"I would say: I am a man with long flaming red hair, one that appears like the heart of a fire, pale skin scattered with a constellation of freckles, mismatched almonds eyes with one an azure shade and the other a chocolate one." he chuckled a little, Dazai blinked and laughed, "That sounds a little silly when it's not written on paper!" Chuuya chuckled and nudged Dazai with his elbow, "You get the point." he laughed a little, "It's far more interesting than saying I'm a ginger guy with long hair, freckles and heterochromea." he rolled his eyes, he rolled his shoulders, his shoulders aching slightly at the way the straps of the backpack were digging into his shoulders slightly, the dull ache noticeable but not yet all too bothersome to Chuuya.

Dazai laughed a little as he looked at him, "Well that's true! Those kinds of descriptions are in hospital records and all." he chuckled a little, he skipped a little on the boards, skipping forward up and over one or two boards, Chuuya rolled his eyes as he kept walking. "You would know everything about hospital records wouldn't you?" he shook his head, "Well that's obvious!" Dazai laughed, he looked at Chuuya over his shoulder before he turned and started walking backwards to still face the other man, "I've been trying to kill myself pretty much since I was born!" he shook his head, he pouted a bit as he considered something, "Well, I think so?" he shrugged and then turned to face in the right direction.

"I don't exactly remember my childhood too closely," he shook his head, Chuuya raised a brow as he walked closer, the wooden planks creaking under his weight, "You don't remember? Like you don't remember it too closely or just a blank?" he asked, his curiosity getting the better of him, Dazai considered it, he sighed softly as he thought of it. "Well, for the most part, it's just, feelings, like I feel something trying to look back but it is just..." he sighed and laughed a little, "Blank. But like, I know something happened I just don't remember what!" he shook his head, Chuuya considered it and nodded, "Right, makes sense," he shrugged, "Kinda like baby memories, vaguely remembering those and not really knowing it." he chuckled.

Dazai blinked, "Baby memories?" he laughed a little, "You remember anything from being a damn baby?" he smirked, "I suppose it makes sense! You haven't grown much since you were a-ARK!" Chuuya's elbow slammed hard into the space under Dazai's ribs and into his stomach harshly, "I'm not that short!" he yelled, his eyes burning with a furious glare. Dazai coughed loudly, one could possibly argue it was exaggerated, but he smirked still as he looked at Chuuya, who only scoffed at his look.

"Stupid Dazai."

"Tiny chib-OW!"

Chapter Text

Chuuya sighed as they made it to their campsite, it was empty, no one else but them being in the space, the site being in top of a small hill that looked over the not so distant city of Banga, overlooking other various buildings of smaller villages that laid around rivers and waterways and the coast line. The sandy shores and the many colorful trees that were along the coast and the waterways poking out from some of the sandy dunes and tall grasses. Dazai gasped as he looked out on the sights at the top of the hill, "Woah... This is some cool stuff!" he laughed a little as he attempted to whistle, not succeeding, Chuuya laughed as he looked at Dazai, "Yeah, Banga's a pretty place." he shook his head and smiled.

He chuckled a little before he started to set up the tent, "We'll stay here for a few days, just rest a little," he spoke casually, though Chuuya in truth didn't know if he could properly rest all that well, what he did know was that Dazai would definitely suspect things if they kept travelling all the time, he wouldn't have the other suspecting him too strongly. Dazai laughed as he looked at Chuuya, "Really?!" he looked at him with a lot of delight, "I am going to try fishing!" he laughed as he ran to the river in Chuuya's brief stunned state, "Ha?! What do you think you're-?!"

Splash!

"Ah it's so cold!"

"Dumbass it's November! Of course it's cold!"

Chuuya rolled his eyes as he ran over as he saw Dazai wading in the water, he was laughing as he looked at the fish nipping at the leg hairs on his shins, "I'm catching us some dinner!" he laughed as he tried to catch some fish with his hands, only for them to keep swimming away from him, just barely making it away and swimming away from the other man. Chuuya shook his head, "Ugh." he looked back and heading back to their campsite, he finished setting it up, his work accompanied by the sounds of Dazai playing in the water and trying to capture some fish, only the sound of splashing and Dazai's laughing could be heard.

Chuuya finished setting up the camp and he turned around to see Dazai holding a large fish in his hands as he ran up, "I caught one! I caught one!" he laughed as he lifted up the wriggling thrashing fish to Chuuya, who stared at it, "That you did." he chuckled a little in disbelief. He looked at found a knife in his luggage, a hunting knife, Dazai stared at it, "You have a knife? Chuuya you don't plan to-?!" Chuuya cut him off, "It's a hunting knife I got from my damn brother." he grabbed the fish and swiftly beheaded it, the head falling and rolling, Dazai watching it as it did.

He rolled his eyes, "What? You didn't eat the head of the fish earlier." he shook his head and looked at Dazai, "Let's just get started with the fire, you go collect rocks so we can keep it contained." he narrowed his eyes at him, "Wet ones." he chuckled a little, he skipped a bit as he ran back to the river, "Don't try drowning asshole!" he yelled after him before he got to work collecting larger sticks and branches, he set up the shape of the campfire, Dazai carried a handful of fist sized rocks, he dropped them on the ground, Chuuya looked at the rocks, they were all wet and of various darker shades of grey, "Good enough." he shrugged and picked them up before he got to work putting them into a border that would keep the fire contained.

Dazai watched over him before he looked back at the river, Chuuya spoke, "Go ahead and catch some more fish just don't get your-"

Splash!

"-Clothes wet." he groaned rubbing his eyes and nose bridge, "God damn it." he shook his head as he continued to set up the campfire, he collected some dry reeds and weeds, cutting them with his knife as before he tied it and stuck it into the inside of the campfire before he whistled, the short tune awakening his magic, he willed it into his fingers before he snapped his fingers and lit the weeds, them burning quickly as they caught fire.

Dazai laughed and splashed in the water as he tried to catch fish, he caught a large fish in his bare hands he ran over to Chuuya, he grinned, "I caught another!" he yelled his face bright with pride, Chuuya looked over grabbing his knife and swiftly beheading the fish, Dazai blinked and smirked looking at Chuuya.

"What else that knife do~?"

"Ask that shit again and I'm making you sleep in the river."

Dazai laughed and shook his head as he poked Chuuya's cheek, "Come on! Why not?" he snickered a little when he looked at him with a smirk, who glared at him, moving the knife toward him, pointing it in Dazai's face, "Quit it or I'll be cooking up your pieces." he blinked a bit before he took a step back, "OK ok!" he shook his head looking away, he batted his eyelashes looking away from him as Chuuya prepared a grill with sticks, placing the fish down on it to cook. Dazai sniffled a bit, "Take off your clothes dumbass you're soaked." Chuuya shot him a look, Dazai snickered, "Chuuya's such a nagging husband~" the other shot back at him an annoyed glare.

The other immediately shut up, he got undressed, he looked at his soaked bandages, glancing at Chuuya who scoffed, "Toss em. They're useless when they're wet." Dazai shrugged and started to peel his second skin off of his skin, starting at his face and down to his arms, chest, waist and legs, Chuuya looked at him, "Do you have a towel?" he considered it, "Eh maybe. I'll check!" he walked over into the tent and starting to poke around in his luggage before finding a towel, a very desaturated orange towel, he started to use it, he wiped himself dry before he laid in the tent, his head poking outside, "Hey~ Slug~" the other didn't acknowledge the nickname, "Put the towel under her dick." he spoke the crude comment as if it was nothing.

Dazai blushed, "How rude!" he cried, he shook his head but wordlessly did as Chuuya asked, he kept his head poked out of the tent looking at Chuuya, "How long until there's food?" he kicked his feet absentmindedly as he watched the other use the knife to flip over the fish to cook it on the other side. "Give it 5 minutes." he hummed before he glanced over at Dazai, "If you don't care about having your hands burnt." the other blinked before he laughed, "Well I don't like pain!" he shook his head resting his head on his hand, "So I'll have to wait until it cools off enough not to get burnt you know." he looked at the popping sizzling fish.

He salivated slightly at the smell, he smiled at Chuuya, "Chuu Chuu, I'm bored!" he whined and moved in closer, "Tell me a story!" he snickered a little as Chuuya looked over at him and rolled his eyes, "You know if I didn't already know you were 21 I'd be assuming you were some tall toddler demanding bedtime stories." Dazai laughed at the words, "Well it's one of the best ways to spend your time!" he laughed a little, "Odasaku told me all about how stories are the best thing humans have to offer this world!" he grinned, Chuuya thought about it and chuckled a little, "Well I can agree with that!" he shook his head and looked at Dazai, "How about you tell me a story then? I've told you quite a few I'm starting to suspect you're hiding something." he smirked as he eyed the lanky man.

Dazai considered it, he tilted his head before he shrugged, "Alright, I guess I can tell a story of my own..." he hummed as he shut his eye to considered the options of stories he had to tell, unlike Chuuya, most of his stories weren't exactly the happiest or the funniest. His were various colors of unpleasant, but then he remembered one, he smiled fondly as he started to tell it, "Well, this one time Odasaku managed to get Ango to bring over his favourite curry to a food festival to have people judge it!" Chuuya looked at him and chuckled, "The food festival right? I heard Novoselic has one every year in August." he smiled, "Yup! You just barely missed it!" he laughed as he thought of what happened next.

He smirked as he leaned in closer, moving up so he could speak closer to Chuuya, "I was there for when he had brought out the curry, Oda was sat to the side, enjoying his plate of free curry he got from Ango," he looked at him and smiled at him, "Was it to his taste?" he asked smirking a little, the younger grinned like a cat, "It was exactly to his taste." he started to snicker, "Turns out! Ango went and seasoned it the way he would normally if only they were eating together since one of the judges was this lady who said changing recipes for any reason was forbidden!" Chuuya gasped, "Seriously?! But I thought the kind we had-?!"

"It's the mild kind! He and Odasaku eat one that's far spicier!" he laughed and grinned, Chuuya's face paled, "Those poor bastards..." Dazai nodded, "They could only take one bite before they started to lose their minds sobbing and chugging milk unable to understand how it was so spicy!" he shook his head, "I'm sure it had enough spice to kill a man!" Chuuya shoved him, "Did you try it?" he smirked as he spoke teasingly, "Oh no! I wouldn't even be able to smell it without getting teary!" he laughed and shook his head.

Chuuya put his hands together in a prayer, "May they rest in peace." he spoke softly, Dazai looked at him, after a second, "Pfft." was the start before the two started to howl with laughter shaking as they laughed together at the story, after a moment the two calmed down and Chuuya found two sticks, he started to widdle them down to small spears, he stabbed one fish, and then the second before handing one over to Dazai, "Here you go." he said as he blew on his own and started to eat. The younger blew onto the fish and bit into it, the fish was juicy and the scales cooked to a nice and crispy, "This is great!" he smiled as he ate happily.

Dazai and Chuuya ate happily, the two sat enjoying themselves as the sky turned dark slowly over the horizon, after they finished eating, Chuuya held out the other's clothes by the fire to dry them, the younger man yawned, "Will you keep the fire going all night?" he asked tilting his head, "Last night was a little cold." the ginger looked at him, "That's not safe, you might not die if our tent catches, but I will." he scoffed as he jabbed him with his finger, Dazai whined, "Fine!" he huffed looking away.

The clothes were dried and folded placed into Dazai's luggage, the man changing into the clothes he got in Sausuma, "These are really nice! That Angie girl is a genius seamstress!" He laughed looking at Chuuya, who chuckled as he looked at the fire, "You notice that now?" he rolled his eyes before he walked to the river and slowly started to whistle, keeping his focus on it as he channeled his magic, he moved his hands starting to bring up the water from the river, "Vienas, du, vienas du," He started to hymn the words as he slowly walked directly the bubble of water to the fire, once he had the bubble over it, he went quiet and the bubble lost its glow and splashed over the fire, killing it. Dazai sat watching him, "Damn." he spoke watching, Chuuya climbed into the tent and took off his shoes before zipping up the tent.

"Hey Chewy." he spoke as the other crawled into the sleeping bag, "What?" Dazai moved into the sleeping bag, "Is Banga warmer than Dumbliai at night?" he asked batting his lashes, the other stared at him, "You already know the answer." the younger smirked at his response snickering, the older rolled his eyes, "Shut up and sleep." he shoved him before rolling over and shutting his eyes. Dazai yawned and shut his eyes staying facing the direction he was, he hummed as he fell asleep after some time. Chuuya took a bit longer to sleep but eventually he too succeeded in sleeping.

Chapter Text

Chuuya opened his eyes in the morning, he noticed a weight on his chest, glancing down he saw Dazai cuddled up and laying his head on Chuuya's chest, curled up like a small cuddly kitten despite his size, he was fast asleep, the other man looked at him before he leaned back and yawned, I've been sleeping too shitty. I'll just relax. He shut his eyes as he attempted to sleep again, unfortunately for Chuuya's sanity his body refused to go back to sleep despite his wishes.

Dazai meanwhile nuzzled into his chest, a comfortable cat like gesture that Chuuya decided wasn't exactly the worst thing ever, he opened his eyes and started to gently comb his hands through Dazai's hair, feeling the build up of grease, Mine's no better. He observed as he tugged on his own hair, We should be able to go and bathe sometime. Where can we even bathe? He sighed as he recalled all the knowledge he had on the local flora that grew in Banga during late fall.

There are some plants that could be used for shampoo. He leaned his head back, I should of bought soap while we were at that store. Oh who am I kidding we wouldn't have been able to afford it. Chuuya brushed his hair back, The water is cold but water can wash off some of the grease and oil for long enough until we can bathe properly. Dazai slowly stirred and opened his eye, he looked at Chuuya, who was staring at the ceiling of the tent, deep in thought.

The younger poked Chuuya's cheek, "Chuu." he mumbled, the other looked down at him, "Yeah?" he tilted his head, "Do we have any fresh bandages?" the elder shrugged, "I don't, check your own luggage." Dazai sat up and yawned stretching out a bit before he moved over to his luggage and opened it, he looked inside, he poked around and found one of his rolls of bandages, Dazai stripped wordlessly and started to wrap his body with the bandages, Chuuya glanced over the scars on his body, I wonder if Mori caused any of those... He shook his head as he looked away, he yawned before he rubbed his eyes to get any fatigue out of them.

"I'll be out looking for some soap plants." he crawled before he climbed out and put on his shoes, Dazai looked up at him, "Really? Soap plants?" Chuuya looked back at him, "We're greasy and sweaty from walking for days. I'm not waiting until we're in Juosmuo to bathe. That's at least a week on foot and only 3 days less on carriage, which we don't have access to. So we're walking." Dazai huffed, "Alright alright whatever." he blinked a bit before he lit up, "Once we get to Juosmuo we'll be able to visit Odasaku's family!" he laughed grinning, "His family?" Chuuya blinked as he was slapped across the face with a realisation, Right. They live there.

Chuuya brushed his hair back, he sighed, "I can say that I know how'd feel visiting them." he scratched the back of his neck, "I mean I barely know Oda and I never met them before." he sighed softly, I would probably need to go to them to tell them what happened to their son. Dazai laughed a little, "Well I can't say it's not expected to be all shy and worried when meeting them!" he shook his head, "I was scared shitless when I first met them!" Chuuya gulped, "Really now?" he nodded and chuckled as he tied off his bandage on his arm, "Oh definitely! His dad can stare daggers into you like he wants you dead!" that did nothing to soothe Chuuya's growing anxiety and discomfort.

"You know you're not talking me into wanting to meet them." he hissed as he stared at him, "Whaaaaaaat?" he snickered as he looked up at him, "I'm just saying the truth! They're suuuuuuper intimidating!" he laughed, "But they're sweethearts once you get past introductions and know that you're just their son's buddy!" Chuuya looked at Dazai before he was brought to thinking of how it must have been for Ango, considering he wasn't just a friend to Oda, he was Oda's husband, well he wasn't always his husband, but definitely the time before that must have been terrifying for the other man. Dazai smirked as he picked up on where Chuuya's thoughts were going, "Oh you have no idea." he snickered as he looked at him.

"Ango was first introduced as a school mate in uni," he smirked as he looked at him, "You see, Ango back then still really struggled to tell people apart." Chuuya raised a brow, "He was born and raised in Skalda." the ginger leaned back, "Oooooh yeah that makes sense." he chuckled a little and shook his head, Dazai continued telling the story, "Ango could not figure out the difference between Odasaku and his dad." Chuuya gasped and stared at him, "Don't tell me he-?!"

"He confessed to his dad instead of Odasaku!" Chuuya fell back dramatically as he cringed, "The horror!" he cried before he broke down laughing, Dazai started to laugh as well, "It was a living hell!" he shook his head as he howled with laughter, "It was so so SO embarrassing just hearing about it from Odasaku!" he shook his head laughing, "The poor bastard didn't have the balls to face either of his parents for months!" he laughed as he fixed his bandages in place, Chuuya choked on air as he attempted to breathe properly and stop laughing, "Oh sweet mother of fuck!" he laughed as he howled and coughed laughing.

The two calmed down, Dazai dressed and looked over at the other man as Chuuya walked into the long grasses, he pushed them aside, Dazai peeked over his shoulder as he and Chuuya looked at the various wild plants, he plucked one and pressed down on the stem's opening, he brought it up to his nose and sniffed. "Rudens Dandelion." He looked at Dazai and brought his hand for him to sniff, Dazai only took one whiff before Chuuya rubbed the white liquid on his face, "Wha?! Chuuya!" he cried glaring at him.

Chuuya only chuckled devilishly before he looked in the tall grasses, he picked some weeds, he crushed them slightly at the stem and sniffed it, "Soap žolė." he chuckled and looked at Dazai lifting the weeds, "Come on, we're going to bathe in the river!" he looked at Dazai and pointed at him, "Strip at camp, I'll get more of these." Dazai snickered, "Does Chuuya just want to see me naked?" he smirked, "If you wanted to see me naked so bad you should have just-!" Chuuya smacked him across the face, "Shut up or I might purposely make it so you can't try to kill yourself at all!" Dazai gasped dramatically in offence.

"You wouldn't dare Chuuya!" he yelled, the other only returned a stern glare that meant business, "Go." he commanded, Dazai huffed and walked back to camp, he paused and looked where the camp fire was the day before, he blinked and looked at it before he started picking up multiple dry sticks and grasses piling them high in the spot on top of the charcoal. We'll be able to warm up fast after once it's lit! He smirked very pleased with himself, he then started to undress again and leaving his clothes in the tent picking up the towel.

Chuuya returned to camp with a good amount of the plants in his hands, he looked at Dazai and nodded, "Light's in my bag, don't try using it to set yourself on fire." Dazai nodded and hopped into the tent, he opened Chuuya's chest and seeing the envelope, Dazai ended up growing curious, What is this? He was about to grab it before Chuuya's call interrupted him, "Don't poke around in my shit! Lighter! Nothing else!" Dazai pouted and took the simple lighter and climbed out of the tent, Chuuya tossing his own clothes inside, Dazai eyed him and made a pathetic whistle.

"What's cooking good looking~?" he chuckled a little, Chuuya rolled his eyes, "I'll be cooking you on a spit tonight if you tease me any more." he chuckled before he looked at him and gestured him to follow him to the river, Dazai carried the towel and they climbed into the frigid water, "Brr!" Dazai cried out, Chuuya hissed and quickly dunked all of himself into the water, Dazai crying out as the water splashed him in the process, "Hey!" he cried shivering before Chuuya threw himself out of the water. "Come on! Soap only works if you are wet!" he yelled as he took hold of the grasses.

Dazai whined, "Do I have to?!" he cried, Chuuya glared at him from over his shoulder, the recipient huffed and splashed water on himself hissing at the cold as the elder was busy crushing the plants in his hands, he looked at Dazai, "C'mere!" he whistled, who huffed and walked over, "You're the dog don't treat me like one." Chuuya rolled his eyes and poured some of the soap on Dazai's head, "Well you're acting like a puppy all this trip so we're even." he chuckled as he started to lather his hair.

The taller pouted and started to wash his hair, it took him a second before his hair started to bubble up, Chuuya watched him before he started laughing as Dazai's head began to get lost in the sea of bubbles, being overloaded by the excess amount of bubbles that had been created by the soap in his hair, "Oh my lord!" he laughed as he watched the predicament that his travel companion was in, "Chuuya! Help me!" he cried, but Chuuya was too busy laughing at him, Dazai shoved down the other into the water in protest, Chuuya tossed him back with his own strength, "Hey! Unlike you I can drown!" he threw himself onto Dazai pinning him onto the river bed.

Dazai bubbled in the water before Chuuya rolled his eyes and moved back and onto the river bed wiping himself clean and dry, "Come on, get out." he looked at him and chuckled, "Or do you want to try freezing to death?" he shook his head as Dazai sat in the water, "I can freeze to death?!" he laughed, Chuuya rolled his eyes, "Well freezing to death is easier in Kristi, try it when we travel through there." Chuuya gulped slightly as he considered it, travelling through Kristi would be a living hell.

He shook his head and walked back to the camp, before using his full strength to pelt the towel at Dazai, hitting him square in the face, he laughed grinning ear to ear, "Gotcha!" he laughed as he pointed, Dazai clambered out and yelled, "Damn you Chuuya! You're so mean!" Chuuya however laughed more sitting by the fire as Dazai used the towel on himself drying off before sitting next to him, "You know this trip has been a lot better than I was anticipating." he spoke the words with an air of bewilderment as he leaned his head back looking at the clouds as they passed by, "It's a lot more fun going outside of Novoselic." he laughed and smiled, "Everything I've seen so far makes Novoselic look so boring by comparison!" he grinned at Chuuya.

Chuuya smiled slightly as he looked at him, "Yeah, every region seems so much more interesting than your home region." he chuckled, Dazai nodded fast, "Yeah! It's amazing!" he laughed, "I can't believe I've been missing out on this stuff for so long besides Juosmuo." He shrugged, "I mean Juosmuo's not bad it's just..." he pouted a bit as he considered his words, "Well it's not all that different from Novoselic, I can't exactly say it's all that fun to visit a place so similar to where you're from." he huffed, Chuuya shrugged, "I hear Juosmuo's just a bit of everything from all the other regions." Dazai looked at him leaning in closer, Chuuya rolled his eyes as he knew the look Dazai was giving him.

"Juosmuo was established after the war, as a promise not to go and kill and destroy each other again." he chuckled a little as he looked at Dazai, "It's like a white dove, choosing that it'll be a sign of peace for generations to come." Dazai nodded, "Yeah that makes sense," he stretched and looked at Chuuya again, "What'll we be doing next?" he asked, the shorter shrugged, "Today I'm going to rest and crash and not do much since we have been walking so long." the taller leaned on his shoulder, "So we're going to be just chilling aren't we?" he chuckled a little, "We should of bought marshmallows when we had the chance!" he laughed poking Chuuya's cheek.

Chuuya rolled his eyes, "Like you wouldn't have eaten them on the way here!" he laughed and shoved him back, he shook his head, "You'll settle for jerky and preserves and you'll like it!" he laughed jabbing his finger at him, "That's all you're eating for however long it takes us to get to Juosmuo!" he laughed, "But that's going to take soooooo long!" he whined leaning back, "You're so mean!" he laughed as he looked at Chuuya, "Well we'll make it there soon enough! And then we'll be getting some marshmallows!" he insisted and grinned brightly. Chuuya shook his head.

"Buy it with your own money."

"Oh but I only have-"

"I'm still not paying."

"Aw man."

Chapter Text

Dazai opened his eyes late in the night, Chuuya was still asleep the man being curled into himself facing away from Dazai, the taller man blinked, his eyes fully adjusting to the darkness, his eyes slowly made it over to the luggage, seeing Chuuya's chest and how it was still unclasped from earlier in the day, and then he had something click in his mind.

The letter!

He slowly crawled over to the side of the tent where the luggage was, he glanced back and looked at Chuuya every few movements to make sure he wasn't stirring, but the freckled man was dead asleep curled up like a cat. Dazai smiled as he lifted the chest and picked up the letter, he narrowed his eyes as he read the text, From Kalnas Yugi mountain, Kouyou Ozaki. To Novoselic Privertė avenue, Chuuya Nakahara. Dazai blinked a bit, Kouyou Ozaki? Has Chuuya mentioned her before? He pouted in concentration, he then paused and blinked a little, Eh I'll figure it out as I read it!

He carefully lifted the wax seal, making sure he didn't break it and could later reseal it. He opened the envelope and took out the folded page inside, he was careful not to make too much noise snooping, luckily for him, his time under Mori's care made him very sneaky and well practiced in the art of stealth and snooping silently. He unfolded the page and narrowed his good eye as he started to read the text as best as she could, it being a difficult thing considering it was dark, but he had a lot of practice from the many times he had been poking around in Mori's drawers in the dark, the tent wasn't as dark so he managed to be able to read the text easier than he had been anticipating.

Dear Chuuya,

I am glad to hear you and your friend Dazai are having fun despite the stress of Ango being missing, I hope Oda gets better soon. I can't say I have high hopes like he does either.

Dazai paused as he stared at the words and gulped, So Chuuya mentioned me and Odasaku to her...

I have been well, I have not long ago managed to call upon a favor of the nearest apothecary to take on our dear Kyouka as a student, afterall since she's a lady now she must be well educated. It took some time to get hold of anyone who'd be willing to take her so late in the year, most I asked declined, even Paul! He said he was too busy, I think he's just wanting an excuse to hang around his lover Arthur. But if anything I suppose that's preferable to the situation in Novoselic isn't it?

Dazai slowly narrowed his eye as he looked at it, She's probably a close friend if Chuuya told her so much about us and then she returned with stuff of her own, who are these people anyway? He blinked a little as he looked at the careful calligraphy.

I can't exactly say I am all too calm knowing that you are in the same region as that doctor, Mori.

Dazai paused as he noticed the name, some of the other names he either didn't know or were friends that he and Chuuya shared. But Mori? Chuuya never met him as far as he knew, Mori was just Dazai's guardian, he didn't have a relationship with the doctor, so clearly something must have happened right? Why would Chuuya mention Mori to her?

Ango went missing after he started to investigate him, tells me that he is someone you should be very wary of. I mentioned his name to an acquaintance of my own and she mentioned how he used to study medicine in Kalnas before he was expelled due to a accident in him killing a patient due to negligence.

Dazai gulped as he read the words, he started to feel sick, Mori... What did you do...?

Please return home safe to us Chuuya, I don't doubt that it is no longer safe for you to stay. Bring your friends along too, I don't doubt that they are in a similar position as you. That Dazai worries me especially, he's probably not well staying with that man.

Dazai gulped a little as he looked at the page, he glanced at Chuuya's sleeping form and then back at the paper again. Did... Did he invite me to take me away from him? Is he... Worried about our relationship? Could... Could something be wrong with our relationship?

With love,
Kouyou Ozaki.

Dazai gulped and slowly folded the letter again and placed it back in the envelope, he took out the small lighter and kept it under the wax long enough to be soft before he moved it away and slowly pressed it back down where it was, he waited for it to cool before he placed it back in Chuuya's chest along with the lighter and he crawled back into the sleeping bag.

Chapter Text

Dazai decided that he wasn't going to question the letter, no way in hell was he admitting to Chuuya that he was poking around in his things and that he was reading his letters to who knows who. The lanky man still was trying to calculate who 'Kouyou Ozaki' even was, was she a friend? More? He wasn't going to be asking Chuuya, that'd only expose him for snooping and land him a express ticket to ass kicking capital.

Chuuya climbed out of the tent and ate some jerky as he stretched, "We're going to be walking again," he said and looked over and Dazai and smiled at him with a piece of jerky sticking out of his mouth, Dazai looked at him and laughed a little, "You look like a farmer with the jerky sticking out like that!" he pointed and laughed as he looked at him and shook his head with a smirk. Chuuya only rolled his eyes in response, "Fix up your shit so I can collapse everything and start walking." Dazai shrugged and smiled before he started to pack his things up again.

They finished packing up and started their way down the slope to the beach, they walked down through the dry grass by the river, Dazai looked at Chuuya and smiled, "Hey Chuuya!" he snickered, the shorter man peered over at him, "What?" he tilted his head raising a brow, "What if we swam in the ocean?!" he sparkled excitedly as he would have without having snooped and without needing answers to the questions he had gotten from when he had snooped and started to sniff around in Chuuya's business as he had been previously denied before, this behaviour didn't catch Chuuya as anything unordinary, eliciting a groan from the other man, "We bathed yesterday and it's November." he rolled his eyes.

Dazai laughed, "Skinny dipping then!" he smirked, "Come on! Just pants, shoes and socks off!" Chuuya smacked him upside the head, "Dumbass you'll get a cold if you do that!" he scolded as he walked alongside him, "I am not taking care of you if you catch a damn cold." he growled as he glared at him, "I am not going to be coddling you." Dazai laughed as he looked at him, "Come on! A little water yesterday didn't give us a cold!" Chuuya shook his head, "The sea is far colder than the river!" he glared at him with a deep glare, "I am not going to be babysitting you." the taller huffed, "Come on! A little wadding won't kill us will it?"

He looked out at the trees, some missing most of their leaves, if anything seeing any leaves at all was like a luxury for them now, Dazai looked at Chuuya, "Will we still be travelling in this weather? I mean December is what? A week away?" he asked, the other hummed and considered it, it was truly not a good idea to travel in winter, especially not through Juosmuo and Kristi, in winter Juosmuo was usually below freezing and often the region was cloaked in snow and recommendations in the paper were usually sent out saying that it was a bad idea to travel by any means that didn't include train.

Kristi on the other hand?

Travelling in Kristi during winter was a death wish, it was suicidal to travel in it during any time of year while ill prepared. The region was almost always below freezing the highest it ever came in temperature was in summer, to which it reached 5 degrees celcius. And in winter the temperature dropped to a negative 39 degrees celcius, even when completely prepared, travelling through the region was suicidal during winter due to the fact that the region generally experienced blizzards and storms, and at that, the region wasn't easy to travel in either, the region was a steep mountain that had many cliffs and steep falls, at that most of the year it was dark, sunlight being rare in Kristi except for summer when the sun didn't appear to set at all.

Chuuya groaned, "Honestly I am still deciding on that." he looked at the ground in front of him, December was just around the corner, they were to need a more permanent place to stay for at least half a year, but that was not something that he appreciated, he knew that now it was impossible to assume that Mori wasn't looking for them, it was obvious that he likely already knew that Dazai was out of Novoselic, he would be surprised if he wasn't already looking or at that starting to pick up their scent, the man wasn't an idiot and it wasn't as if they left no trail at all. If Chuuya had to guess the man already figured out who took Dazai away and how far they already made it.

"Seriously? You're still deciding despite everything? I thought that you'd already decided that when you started this trip in the first place." he huffed, Chuuya visibly deflated, logically he knew Dazai was right, afterall their pilgrimage was more like an impulsive and desperate decision than a carefully planned one. Chuuya felt almost sorry for himself not going out of his way to pick through Oda and Ango's home for money so they could have an easier time, but unfortunately for Chuuya he was raised to be a good honest man by his parents and all those who surrounded him. He was too honest to steal, even if both men were dead and would have likely permitted him to do so for his purposes and motive, he still didn't find it in him to do such things.

"Well I guess you can say we were both a little silly." he shook his head as he looked forward seeing the bright beautiful ocean ahead of them, he didn't mind the situation, choosing to enjoy the sight of the pretty sea shore, "While wadding is a little too much, we can make a sand castle." the suggestion made Dazai snort and laugh, "A sand castle?!" he shook his head, "Are we 5?!" he howled in disbelief and enjoyment, Chuuya rolled his eyes as he looked at him, "Oh quiet." he elbowed him in his side as they continued along the path down to the shore. Chuuya looked at the shining almost crystalline sand that was accented by the sapphire waves that crashed along the shore and left fluffy white sea foam behind on the darkened wet sand.

He sighed softly before he turned in the direction of the big city before Dazai spoke up, "I would like to make a sandcastle actually." the shorter man paused and looked over at him, "Oh? I thought you thought that was childish." he chuckled a little as he looked at him, the taller laughed, "Well how am I supposed to turn down a good time seriously?!" he shook his head, "Let's make a castle!" he ran over to where the shore was, Chuuya gasped before he ran after him like one would run after a dog about to jump into a body of water when it shouldn't.

"Dazai!" he called before he started to laugh as he saw Dazai trip over driftwood and fall face first into the sand, "Oh my lord!" he laughed as he looked at him and shook his head and continued to bark with laughter as he caught up with Dazai as the other lifted his head and spat out sand, "It got in my nose!" he cried, Chuuya rolled his eyes and took out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to Dazai, "Oh the horror." Dazai wiped his face before opening his eye, "You would yell and shriek if you got sand in your nose too asshole." he chuckled a little as he looked at him, Chuuya rolled his eyes, "Yeah yeah whatever." he shoved him, "We have a sand castle to build." he smiled a little as he looked at the sand it was mostly dry but wet enough to be quite firm and nicely malleable under his hands.

Dazai sparkled as he started to move his hands and use his hands to push them together into a mound, Chuuya took some more watery sand to build up some towers, the taller man picked up some sticks and put them into the castle with a soft crunch. It was not exactly a pretty sight, it was something that of a messy sandcastle with some melted candle like towers and a pile of sand in the middle adorned by some pathetic twigs.

Chuuya and Dazai looked at the pathetic thing before they started to laugh at they pathetic looking castle, "This is so silly!" Dazai laughed as he looked at the castle and threw his head back as he howled, Chuuya started to laugh along side him, "It's so stupid!" he shook his head as he looked at the stupid castle in front of them as they slowly stood up and started walking again over to their next location, that being Banga city.

Only to pause at the bottom of the great, steep staircase of shining sandstone steps that it was difficult to see the top of the stairs from where they were at the bottom, Chuuya stared at them before he groaned loudly, Dazai whined, "The hell?! Why?!" he put his head in his hands as he was present before the steps. "This is going to be worse than when we walked through all Dumbliai." he fussed.

Chuuya didn't find it in him to disagree.

Chapter Text

Chuuya breathed out a heavy sigh as they made it over to the bridge that would lead to the gates of the city, Dazai looked at Chuuya a bit breathless, "How the world was that set of stairs so hard to climb?!" he groaned before he dropped to his knees and collapsed on the ground with a pained groan, Chuuya looked down at him and sighed at him.

"Well obviously these damn stairs and the god forsaken sand dunes are something that deters people from..." he paused as his tired mind attempted to find something to explain, "Walk here?" he suggested, Dazai laughed slightly at the words that Chuuya chose, "Ha! You can say that again!" he shook his head, his head swaying back and forth before he collapsed fully on the sun-heated sandstone, Chuuya looked down at him and laughed slightly, "You acting like that was lethal!" he shook his head as he looked down at Dazai and sighed slightly, "Back in the day I ran up steps like these everywhere!" he puffed up his chest as if he wasn't also breathless and feeling the immense painful aching in his legs and back.

"You're lying!" Dazai cried out as he glared at him from where he was on the ground, Chuuya only smirked, "What? Shocked?" he snickered, "Kalnas is all hills and mountains where you have to climb up all these stone steps to make it to various places!" he looked down at the other as he smiled at all the memories he had of his childhood and at the sight of Dazai's bewildered stare, "So that's why your ass is so fat!" he laughed, Chuuya stared at him for a second.

"I'm going to kick you so you roll all the way to the bottom and have to climb them on your own."

"No!" Dazai sobbed as he desperately hugged onto Chuuya's leg, "Not again! Not again please Chuuya!" he sobbed pathetically into his pant leg, the other man looked down at him quite unbothered, "Right. I'll have some mercy on you." he huffed as he looked down at him, "Anyway get up, we have to go around." the younger man looked up at him before he groaned and stood up, before he reached down and picked up his luggage, "Ugh!" he cracked his spine with a pop, Chuuya hissed and cringed at the sound, "Gross." Dazai looked at him and smirked, "Oh you think that's gross?!"

Dazai took hold of his head with both hands, "Watch this!" he quickly snapped his head, it falling off of his neck as he laughed, Chuuya gagged and threw up in his mouth as he looked at him, "Anyway Chuuya can you help me put my head back where it should be?" the other attempted to reach up his hands to his head, feeling a bit blindly as he did, Chuuya hissed as he picked up Dazai's head and attempted to screw it onto his neck, "That's not really doing anything." Dazai chuckled a little, Chuuya hissed, "Hold your own fucking head asshole." he growled out the words.

Dazai rolled his eye and he held onto his head, "This is all so silly Chuuya, you've seen my after I've gone splat before!" Chuuya looked at him with an annoyed gaze, "Yeah. And Oda had to explain to me a hundred times that this was normal for you and said I can throw up into a bucket if I can't handle it." he hissed out the words, Dazai rolled his eyes, "It wasn't that bad! I didn't fall head first!" he laughed and grinned, the ginger walked over to where the edge of the stairs was and threw up whatever contents were in his stomach, Dazai watched him as he threw up, "Fair enough. I heard it looks utterly disgusting seeing all the blood, bone pieces and brain guts-!"

"Ugh!"

Dazai blinked as he watched Chuuya heave and gag, he rolled his eyes, "It's not that bad!" the ginger snapped his head around to him, "The hell you on about?! It is bad dumbass!" he yelled as his eyes grew bright and furious, "No one talks about that kinda shit like it's nothing! Not unless they're fucking crazy!" Dazai blinked as he considered it and let go of his neck when it fused back in place by the means of his curse, the thing caused his body to heal unnaturally compared to most people, the curse almost forcibly refused to let him die no matter what he did, all he needed was to set and dress the wounds and in a few minutes to days he'd be fully healed.

Dazai shrugged, "I guess you can say what everyone else knows as normal is something I long lost sight of." he rolled his eyes as he let go of his head, he moved his head in multiple directions, he chuckled a little as his neck seemed to properly fused back together, his airways completely clear and the works, everything being as it should be within him, Chuuya looked at him as he wiped his mouth, "You think captain Obvious?" he walked over to Dazai and flicked his forehead, eliciting a whine from the younger man, "Don't do that again prick." he shook his head and walked to the gates, "How much gold we have left?" he asked looking to Dazai, "12 gold coins! Lost and spent none!" he laughed as he looked at him, "Though I might ask you what you are so worried now, earlier you were spending like you hated it." Chuuya shook his head.

Before I was desperate to make it as far from Novoselic and Mori as possible. Lacking money wasn't something I considered before. He sighed as he looked at him, "It's whatever. Once we make it to Juosmuo we'll be able to find some kind of accommodations, I have friends there." Dazai blinked as he looked at him, "Will we be staying for long there?" Chuuya shrugged, "I don't fancy getting hypothermia." he walked to the gates and slowly he pushed them open. Inside was the sunset painted the sandstone streets different bright warm shades, the murals and various statues that adorned the capital of art and innovation made Dazai stare in awe as he walked beside Chuuya.

A mural on a tall building had a spiralling dragon painted on it in shades of azure and crimson, the building right next to it was a smaller one but possessed a night prepared to fight the dragon on the nearby building. A sculpture stood tall of a mermaid made of pieces of sea glass and pieces of old fishnets creating the beautiful sparkling figure which stood before them, she appeared so stunning shining and sparkling in the light of the setting sun, her glow illuminating the patterns on the tiles that surrounded her and the fountain that accented her, the tiles cut and grouted to make pictures of fish in an amber color surrounded by sea green tiles only slightly broken apart by some small round white tiles meant to be bubbles.

As the sun set the stain glass streetlamps being lit as the lempa mice that lived in them were coaxed out by lantern lighters, the stained glass making the light emitted be all sorts of colors and fill the streets with lights of reds, blues, greens, yellows, oranges, pinks and purples, lighting the city square in more colors making the fountains shine with new colors and sparkle in an almost magical way even if it wasn't truly only an illusion as it was so by the lamps and garlands that were tied around the square which shimmered rainbows around the space with the glass sun catchers tied on the wire. Some were heading to bed, parents chasing their children through the water fountains as they called, "Hey! It's time for bed! Come on! Don't make me drag you there!" a father yelled as he chased his daughter into a fountain as the toddler squealed with utter glee as she was sprayed with water before her father caught her and scooped her up, only laughing and squealing in pure joy.

Some birds bathed in a artistic birdbath splashing the water around as the black birds got clean, Dazai mindlessly moved closer to take a look at them only to scare them off and get splashed with water, "Ah! Bad bird!" he wiped his face into his sleeve to dry it, Chuuya glanced at Dazai and huffed, "Dumbass." he teased slightly as he looked at the other with an air of fondness, he caught himself staring only the second a smiling Dazai looked his way, "You're no better!" he laughed, almost sparkling in the lights of the streets that were alive with a sort of brightness that made him pause. Chuuya shook off the feelings he had pricking out of his subconscious, burying them before he looked at Dazai, "Come on prick. Let's go and check around the area, the night's young." he chuckled as he smirked at Dazai.

He grinned brightly and jumped forward as he looked around, "What's next?!" he laughed as he grinned from ear to ear as he looked at the sights, he chuckled as he walked forward and looked at the various art pieces on display, one by a school building was that of a pride of lions made of clay, many of them being put together by the students made of a red durable clay, the clumsy childish figures and the slightly awkward looking faces on the lions that were collected by each year of students, the building itself was built like a castle, Dazai gasped as he kneeled down looking at each of the lions, seeing on their paws was etched a name 'Mizi' Dazai blinked as he looked at the name, "Mizi?" he chuckled a little as he looked over at Chuuya, he smiled as he looked at them, "I think the teachers etched the students names in so that they didn't mix them up." he chuckled a little.

Dazai smiled as he looked at all of them, "I see!" he laughed a little as he looked over to the many little lions, "Think they do this with all the students?" he asked as he snickered a little at how silly and ugly some of them looked, the messy nature of the sculptures gave an air of nostalgia that made him laugh a little as he tried to guess what each child that made each lion was like before he started to head over to a park, lit by the street lamps and whatever remained of the sun's light over the horizon made the currently abandoned park appear a bit liminal with the wooden castle and giant glass tube of marbled glass supported and reenforced steel. A tall carousel was to the side with hippocampuses made of metal and painted in many pretty glossy colors, a jungle gym in the shape of coral was present made of a dark wood decorated by a multitude of ledges made to look like vines shooting out to give more climbing space for the children.

The younger of the two men looked at them and quickly ran onto the playground grounds, "Hey they even have a swing!" he grinned as he pointed to the simple metal swing, Chuuya shook his head, "Seems lackluster compared to all the other play equipment," he chuckled slightly as he watched the younger man drop his chest to hop onto a swing clearly meant for those several years younger than him, "It's been ages since I've been on one of these!" he grinned as he started to awkwardly swing himself, a struggle caused by Dazai's height compared to those the swing was intended for, Chuuya rolled his eyes, "Really? Did your parents hate bringing you to parks or something?" he teased slightly as he leaned against a play structure watching Dazai.

Dazai laughed as he kicked himself back and forth, "Not really! Hell I don't think I remember being a kid." he looked up at the darkening sky and the stars that started to poke out from the dark curtain, "I don't remember a lot of things from when I was small, I only really remember it in dreams but not much else." he looked Chuuya's way, "I'm kinda jealous you remember so much from when you were a kid since I don't remember a thing before I was like 14?" he shrugged, Chuuya blinked before he sighed, "Think it is cause of your curse? Maybe going splat on the pavement so many times fucked with your memories?" Dazai laughed, "If that were true it would have been getting worse!" he shook his head as he grinned, "But nope! Not a thing different from when I started going splat on purpose and now!" he chuckled, Chuuya groaned, rubbing his nose bridge, "That only makes sense coming out of your mouth." he shook his head as an exasperated laugh escaped his throat.

Dazai smiled at him, "Well that's just cause no one else can make it make sense!" he laughed as he continued to swing before his long legs caught on the ground and fell face first into the padded ground, Chuuya blinked as he looked at him, "You know I think I might have to treat you like a toddler with how clumsy you are getting." he smirked and laughed as he looked at the other who only got up from the ground with a huff, "I'll have you know I am not clumsy! The swing is just short!" he wiped some blood off of his chin, "I don't think swings should be so short!" he huffed, the other laughed, "Oh really? A swing set for a bunch of little kids should be taller?" he crossed his arms as he leaned against a play structure.

Dazai looked at him and huffed, "Well what if the kids are tall?!" the other rolled his eyes before he looked over at him, "Yeah. What if." he laughed a little as he looked at him, he shrugged a little as he looked at him and by the sea line, the starry sky lighting up the horizon, Dazai followed his gaze, he looked over the horizon and stood up, he looked over the edge of the sandstone railing, he looked over the horizon seeing the sight of the ocean. The dark sea shimmered under the light of the moon and stars, making it look like a beautiful crystal slope by them the waves crashing, the salty taste of the sea air made it to them both, the wind tangling their hair and flushing their cheeks a shade pinker from the chill.

Dazai smiled slightly as he shut his eyes as he enjoyed the ocean breeze on his face he sighed softly, "So this is what everyone was going on about?" he asked as he turned his head over to Chuuya who nodded, "Who wouldn't enjoy this?" he chuckled a little as he looked over the horizon, "I've seen this only a couple of times, but every time was when it was still light out or the sun was setting." Dazai smirked at him, "Oh? So I'm your first partner you share looking at the sky at the sea alone?" he laughed as he looked at him, Chuuya shoved him, "Oh shut up. It's not that huge." he rolled his eyes, "We should go and get a hotel room, unless you want to go around the city and set up a tent outside of town?" he shook his head as he smiled at him.

The lanky man leaned back as he considered the options, "As much as I'd kill to look around everything right now..." he laughed a little as he looked at Chuuya and dramatically cracked his back, "My back has been killing me begging me to sleep in some soft of bed instead of a sleeping bag!" he laughed as he grinned at the elder man, who shook his head, "It's your money, what hotel offers a night stay for less than 12 gold?" he asked as he turned to head down the streets, Dazai picked up his chest and walked alongside him, "We found plenty of places to stay on our journey!" he chuckled a little as he looked at the ginger, "You found 0 problems finding anything!" he rolled his eyes, "Well how about you try it this time? I'm done babying you." Dazai smirked, "Says the one who's the size of an actual baby-"

A swift jab into the gut was enough to get Dazai to shut up.

Chapter Text

Dazai and Chuuya managed to find a hotel, a dusty and musty place, the place wasn't exactly comfortable in any sense but one thing that their room had besides some damp carpet was a locking door which they both appreciated more than enough to ignore the fact that they were pretty certain that someone had pissed on the wall not too long ago.

"This place sucks."

"You picked this place."

"Doesn't mean it doesn't suck."

They placed down their things and Chuuya wordlessly locked the door and brought the old wooden chair under the handle, Dazai on the other hand was feeling the mattress and deciding whether or not it was worth it to lay down on it before he ultimately decided that they already paid for a night so they might as well actually use the bed they had access to, even if it was obvious the thing was still very sweaty from the previous patron.

The two laid down on the bed and after a few hours of attempting and struggling to get comfortable they managed to fall asleep.

.

.

.

He felt a familiar blowing on his face as he started to laugh at the feeling as someone pushed him from behind.

Higher! Higher!

He laughed out the words as he was pushed and seemed to reach higher and higher on the swing in the air, he could hear a branch creaking slightly at his strong swinging.

Dazai could only laugh with glee at the oddly familiar feelings, as if something was very right and it was so comfortable like one would be in their own bed at home, he didn't quite know what exactly was bringing that energy to him.

But somehow, despite trying so desperately he couldn't see the person pushing him on the swing, all he got a glimpse of was long flowing dark hair.

Who are you?

The answer was left withheld from Dazai.

.

.

.

Chuuya curled up into himself as his own dream nudged at his mind.

.

.

.

Water dripped from the ceiling.

Rain?

Looking up it was hard to tell what was dripping down.

Then it made it into his mouth.

He gasped throwing a hand over his mouth when he tasted blood.

At least that was the most recognisable part of the taste, the other parts were so disgusting that Chuuya had no way of figuring out how in the world he was supposed to do something like that. How was he supposed to stomach it?

He wretched out whatever was in his stomach only to see something he didn't expect to see.

The sludge mess that his friends had become, them reaching for him with whatever remained of their bodies and attempted to reach for him.

Chuuya's throat was already raw and he couldn't stomach the sights anymore.

.

.

.

Chuuya awoke, he gasped and breathed heavily as he attempted to stay sane after his nightmare, he breathed heavily as he did his best to remain sane after everything had made it through his dream, he panted as he slowly caught his breathe in the dank too dusty and moist room, he looked beside him to Dazai, he was starting to stir slightly but Chuuya pet his head, "Go back to sleep dumbass..." he sighed as he looked down at the ground. He wasn't exactly able to sleep after that, being in cities now made him especially uneasy, all he knew was that there was no real way to avoid the worry that the next person that they'd run into would be Mori, and at the same time there was no way of avoiding him forever.

But at least in forests and bogs there was less chances of accidentally running into the man.

Chapter Text

Morning arrived and Dazai stood up and stretched, "That bed felt awful!" he cried as he rubbed his back, Chuuya rolled his eyes as he started to rip apart the last two pieces of one of their packs of jerky, "Remind me to never let you pick a hotel ever again." he hissed as Dazai took the piece offered and started to chew on it, "Well we only had to pay one gold for it!" he laughed as he smirked looking quite happy with himself. The other however looked like he was slightly more willing to sell Dazai out so he'd be able to get one good night of sleep for the first time in what felt like months, when it had yet to reach 2 weeks proper of them being on the run and they weren't even half way to their destination, they were at most a third of the way there and that didn't do Chuuya any favours when he tried sleeping.

Dazai laughed slightly as he looked at him, "What? Don't you like saving money when we have nothing?" he snickered as he looked at him, a smirk on his lips that made it very hard for Chuuya to remember that he was doing this because he actually cared for the man as a dear friend and some complicated other thing, and that he didn't want to throw the man into a pig pen and leave him to become an infinite food source for the animals.

Chuuya sighed, "Saved money for little benefit." he took out his hair stick and started to do up his hair almost absentmindedly, Dazai looked at him and raised a brow as he looked at him, "Did you not sleep?" he asked, the ginger looked at him and laughed at him, "Don't you feel the back aches too asshole?" he shook his head as he playfully shoved him, the other laughed and grinned at him, "Oh yeah! I definitely feel it!" he laughed as he looked at the likes of the room again, if anything the room looked even worse in the light of day, but somehow that made Dazai even more curious, "Hey Chuuya I have an idea!" he laughed and grinned at him.

The other looked at him with a raised brow as he finished tying his hair, "What?" he leaned his head back to look at him, "What exactly are you plotting now?" he asked, Dazai smirked as he looked at him, "I'm thinking of going around being a tourist!" he laughed and grinned at him, this made Chuuya pause a moment as he considered what could possibly happen, he gulped and looked at him, "We only paid for one night. We should find a locker to keep our things locked up before we go and do anything." he stood up rolling his shoulders, "I'm more than tired of carrying heavy bags all the time." Dazai blinked before he laughed a little.

"Well we have been carrying our stuff around everywhere!" he shook his head before he looked at their luggage, "Where are these lockers anyway?" he asked, Chuuya stood up and picked up their things, "They tend to be at train stations." he looked at Dazai, who seemed to sparkle at the idea, "Will we be going on a train?" he asked and almost giggled in pure glee, "Not from Banga, we can take the train from Juosmuo to Kristi." Chuuya spoke, he gulped slightly as he considered it, going through the trains was easy but costly, and at that easy to trace, all Mori would have to do was poke around in the train station records of either Juosmuo or Kristi if they went through that path.

But at the same time, he found it difficult to deny the look that painted Dazai's face, he couldn't say no to that happy smile and excited gaze. The look he gave tugged on his heart strings like puppet strings in a way that made it impossible for him not to indulge him at least a little, Chuuya stood up as he looked at him, "We'll drop off our things in one of the lockers and then we'll be able to go around for the day, then we'll be camping outside the city at night." he smiled as he poked Dazai's cheek, "Come on, let's get out of this place." he chuckled as he walked over and picked up their things.

Dazai grinned brightly and followed beside him, soon enough they were outside of the hotel and no longer stuck in the musty place. They started to make their way through the highly decorated streets of Banga, with the sun the streets came alive with people, children running from their homes and to their schools, people starting on their journeys to work, merchants opening their shops or preparing their wares in the market square on stands, the streets growing livelier by the second, even birds seemed to be more and more alive, flying out and about filling the blue skies with their many colors, Dazai grinned as the music of musicians and street performers started to fill the streets, the smells of various stands cooking flooded the streets.

"Fresh carp! Fresh carp! Fresh carp! Only 2 gold a piece!"

"Finest silks in all the land! Come and get them while we still have them!"

"Jelly stew! Come and get it while it's hot!"

Dazai grinned and looked at Chuuya, "You seeing all of this? I didn't think it'd be so alive in November!" he laughed lightly, the other shook his head, "It's almost December actually, or probably already December who cares?" he laughed as they continued through the streets, passing carts and a mirage of people going on with their days, countless of them laughing and living their lives in such an animated way, Dazai smiled as he absorbed the essence of the place into his soul, he couldn't stop smiling as they made it to the train station, "This stuff is amazing Chuuya!" he laughed and grinned from ear to ear, Chuuya nodded, "Yeah, it is." he smiled as he looked up at the train station and then at the lockers, he pointed, "There they are." he walked over to one and pulled it open, it was a simple metal locker, nothing to write home about but Chuuya was satisfied with it as he placed his and Dazai's things inside, "You got your money?" the other nodded, "Yup! I got all my money!" he pulled out the pouch from his pocket with a grin on his face.

Chuuya only nodded, "That's good," he shut the door, the handle disappeared and what remained was a coin slot, Dazai blinked and stared at it before he laughed, "Ah so we have to pay to get our stuff back huh?" Chuuya nodded, "Yup, rules are rules." he smiled slightly as he looked at him, "Now let's get going, we have some sight seeing to do don't we?" he offered the other his hand and he broke into a bright grin and grabbed his hand, "Let's go!" he laughed as he started to pull Chuuya along by the arm, the other stumbling briefly before he started to run alongside him, "Whoa slow down Dazai! We're not going to run out of time yet!" he laughed as he looked up at the other who only grinned brighter, "We have a whole city to explore!" he laughed as he looked around and pointed, "There's a tower!"

Where Dazai pointed was an old tower, one designed to carry balloons around and over the city, the balloons in all of Banga's colors of sea foam and sand yellow shined as the balloons were docked and waiting to be used, the tower itself being made of a sandstone, the top wasn't too interesting, the structure simple and sturdy, but the lower one went the more graffiti there was, many years of it, "Let's take a closer look!" he laughed as he pulled Chuuya along, Dazai immediately pointed at the oldest piece of graffiti and looked at Chuuya expectantly, the other only chuckled and shook his head, "That's the first piece of anti war protest, 'We will not drown for your blood borders'." the younger looked at it and smiled, "Blood borders? That's what they called them?" he chuckled slightly as he looked at Chuuya, who nodded.

"Yup. The common people long lost sight of what started the war so they started to protest," he smiled as he looked at it, "Not many could stand the senseless bloodshed after 100 years. And now look where we are." he gestured to the tower with a smile, "At the foot of a former Armija tower, one that's now just a tourist location!" he laughed and smiled, Dazai nodded as he looked at it and then noticed more and more of the graffiti, curiously he started to read every single one of them.

We're all human! Let not shed more blood!

Senseless bloodshed shall not stand!

I won't stand by this.

I'd rather be fertiliser than a soldier!

Dazai smiled as he looked at each and every single one, "Wow." he laughed as he looked at them, "Are all of these seriously 100 years old?" he asked as he tilted his head looking at Chuuya, who smiled and shrugged, "Most of them are probably painted over so they stay readable." he smiled as he looked at them, "But they definitely are, I mean, can you see something like a war happening again?" Dazai considered it before he shrugged, "I doubt any region's citizens can be driven to that point." he looked at Chuuya and snickered, "How about you show me the next best place!" he sparkled with barely restrained excitement.

Chuuya looked and pointed, "Culture centre has free admission." Dazai laughed, "That's even better!" he grinned as he followed Chuuya down the streets and over to the large decorated building that was the culture centre, if anyone was to say that it was lively, they'd be under-describing the centre itself, inside being countless works on display, a multitude of sculptures, bookshelves full of books up until the ceiling, countless people inside, students studying, children with their parents reading books in one of the many nooks, painters working on their craft, sun catchers hung from the ceiling and as far as Chuuya and Dazai were concerned the place was utterly breathtaking, if not a little overstimulating with how many things were on display and the idle chatter that filled the place, Dazai walked around and looked up in utter awe as he noticed some of the stained glass designs above.

Dazai sparkled as he looked around, before his eyes got caught on something, "Is that Kunikida?" he tilted his head as he looked at a group sat to the side talking amongst themselves, Chuuya blinked, "Who?" the taller looked back at the shorter, "He's someone that Ango works with, you think he's heard anything about Ango?" Chuuya scrunched up his nose in displeasure, "I highly doubt that he'd know anything more than we do. I mean, if his own husband didn't know where he was, what makes you think a colleague would?" Dazai tapped his chin, before he shrugged, "Good point." he then had his eyes caught on a fish tank and his eyes lit up as he walked closer to it, looking at all of the plants and creatures inside the tank.

Shiny fishes in many shades and sizes swimming around the tank lazily, the many underwater plants ranged from various weeds and flowers and large coral and a giant anemone in a pink color, the shimmering scales made a pretty image as the giant tank filled the space that was like a wall in the space. Along the base were plaques that had pictures and information about the various peaceful fish and plant species in the tank, Dazai smiled brightly as he looked up at them all and then his eyes caught on a small cuttlefish, a temperamental orange blob of a fish, he looked at it and then at Chuuya, "Look it's you." he smirked as Chuuya rolled his eyes, his eyes catching on a boney fish eating algae on the side of the tank, "Look it's you." he chuckled.

The two looked at each other before they broke down laughing and shaking their heads, only stopping when someone shushed them, they eventually started to make their way out and looked out at the streets, Dazai grinned as he looked at all of the options present of places to visit, "Let's go to the great wall!" he sparkled as he pointed to the walls that were made along Banga's land border, Chuuya smiled as he looked at it and started to walk with Dazai up the hill over to the wall. "So Chuuya, you know what this wall is for?" he chuckled a little as he looked at him, Chuuya chuckled as he looked at Dazai, "Am I the tourist guide now?" he laughed as he looked at him, "I didn't sign up to be a guide when I took you with me." the other chuckled as he looked at him.

Dazai smirked at him and chuckled a little, "Well you have been great at it!" he leaned in closer to Chuuya, causing the other's cheeks to turn slightly pink before he spoke again, "You've been such a great guide Chuuya! I can't believe anyone would be better for the job than you!" he laughed as he looked at him, Chuuya sighed and shook his head, "Well too bad I can't say I can deny it really." he smiled at him, "But in the case of these walls all I know is that they used to be for keeping the main capital of Banga safe from attacks from the land border," Dazai pouted, "That's it?" he tilted his head, the other nodded, "Yup. That's it." he chuckled a little.

Dazai shook his head as he looked up, "Think we'll be able to see the whole place from on top?" he grinned brightly as he looked over at Chuuya, who nodded, "Yup. Staircase up should be along that way by the gate," he pointed along the road where there was a large gate with large decorated doors like the ones they had seen when they had entered Banga the day before, beside it was a ladder, made of stone, like steps into a bunk bed that went up to the top of the wall. "After you." Chuuya chuckled with a slight smirk, the taller chuckled a little, "Well aren't you a gentleman." he laughed as he started to climb up the ladder, Chuuya looked up at him and at the sight of his behind above him, he whistled.

Dazai looked down at him and laughed, "Buy me dinner first!" he called down to him, Chuuya yelled back, "I bought most of your meals already!" he laughed, the other made it to the top with a smirk on his face, Chuuya started to climb up to him and at the top they looked at each other before they looked out at the sight of the city.

The capital was bright and shining with many buildings, sculptures, and even some magic shining as street performers summoning their magic to entertain others while busking on the streets, Dazai grinned as he watched a magical dragon appear over the buildings and start to dance in the air as it shimmered and sparkles in emerald and sea glass colors in the sunshine. "Chuuya! You seeing this?!" he laughed and grinned as he looked over at Chuuya who nodded with a smile, "Yeah I am." he chuckled a little as he noticed a swarm of magical butterflies shine in the air with the dragon creating more beautiful images in the sky, Dazai laughed and grinned as he sparkled at the sight.

Dazai's stomach growled as they looked over the horizon, he looked over at Chuuya and pouted, "Chibi~" he whined playfully and wrapped his arms around Chuuya's shoulders, "I'm hungry~" he nuzzled into Chuuya's neck, "Feed meeeeeeee!" He laughed as he looked at him, the shorter looked at him and laughed as he shoved him, "Dumbass." he shook his head before he looked down, seeing the sight of the market square not too far away for them, "We can get some street food and share something." he smiled as he pointed, Dazai sparkled as he looked at him, "Yes please!" he grinned.

Chuuya nodded and the two made their way down the wall and started to walk around the market square looking at all the exotic and new street food neither had seen before, Dazai chuckled as he looked over at the many stands, "There's so many sea food options." he chuckled as he looked at Chuuya, who smiled and and nodded, "Yup. They're salt water fish at that." he smiled as he looked at some of the seafood, the many ways the various species of fish were cooked and cut were all so tempting, however Chuuya opted to stay to only one option of the fish they'd eat for lunch.

Chuuya's eyes then caught on a stand with fried squid, he lit up, "Squid!" he grinned as he looked at it and grabbed his hand and pulled him along over to the stand, he looked at all the options salivating and utterly excited to see all of the options in front of him, he couldn't get enough of seeing all the squid, he smiled brightly, "I haven't had squid in ages." he chuckled a little, Dazai looked at the squid, "I've never had it." he tilted his head and looked at Chuuya, "Is it good?" Chuuya looked back at him, "We're getting it."

"But is it-"

"We're getting it."

"Chu-"

"Two squid! Chili spread and garlic spread!"

"3 gold sirs."

"Dazai!"

That was all it took for them to get their hands on two juicy grilled squids, Chuuya took a bite of the chili spread squid and chewed on the leg with a bright smile on his face as he smiled from ear to ear as he ate it, enjoying the crispy and chewy texture in his mouth as he didn't resist devouring it, Dazai looked at the garlic one curiously before he copied Chuuya and started to eat it himself, he slowly chewed on it before he smiled slightly, "It feels a little funny." he chuckled a little as he looked over at Chuuya, the other chuckled, "Well that's what makes it so great!" he grinned as he took another bite. The other smiled and continued to eat, his hunger being enough to ignore the briefly odd texture before he started to utterly devour it, "Tastes so much better than I thought!" he grinned brightly as he kept taking large bites and nearly burning his tongue once or twice.

The two continued on throughout the day, it reaching to later afternoon, the sun starting to set started under the horizon. The sky was turning shades of orange and pink as they made their way over to the locker, Dazai smirked slightly as he looked at Chuuya, "You know Chuuya, that was kinda like a date wasn't it?" he spoke in a teasing tone as he looked at him, Chuuya blushed before he shook his head smiling, "You wish!" he laughed a little as he looked at him, Maybe another day. He shook his head as he looked at him and laughed with him, Dazai laughed alongside him with a bright grin.

They got their things and made their way to the gates, "How long do you think we'll be walking this time?" he asked as he tilted his head looking at Chuuya as he carried his chest as the two made their way to the gate, "We'll walk down the west road for about 2 hours and then set up camp on firm ground." he chuckled a little as he pushed the giant doors open, the roads were tiled and groated, some carts passed by them, people entering and leaving the Banga capital, Dazai smiled as he looked ahead.

Chapter Text

A small boy yawned as he threw hay into a trough for the horse, his mother watching him from the window, she was silent as she washed the dishes in her hands. The light drizzle outside wasn't exactly the most noticeable thing but she still stayed listening out so she'd know when she'd be calling her son back inside, it was dim outside but not enough that anyone had turned on any sort of lights.

The rain started to pick up and she called, "Get inside!" her son nodded and quickly ran to the door, she was expecting the door to open, she hadn't noticed anything odd she just called again, "I said," she was about to repeat herself when she heard a shrill shriek outside, her face going pale as she tossed the plate aside and ran over to the door without thinking.

The shriek was however cut short once she made it to the door.

She paused as she looked at the door and reached for the door handle and pulled it open, outside she only saw a mound of flesh in place of where her son had been, her heart stopped as she stared at it, her legs giving out below her as she stared at it. Her hands reached up as she touched what remained of the boy she had made and raised.

She didn't know when she started to scream but she screamed her throat completely raw into the night so loud not even the rain could drown out her mourning.

Chapter Text

They had set up camp about 3 hours away from Banga's capital, but their map said they were still within the region's border still, Chuuya set up the tent while Dazai stood by and his eyes caught on the sight of the capital not far away from them, the lights still able to be see from where they were. "Huh." he chuckled a little, "The city looks so bright even from here." he spoke the observation aloud as he didn't do anything to help Chuuya in setting up the tent at all.

Chuuya rolled his eyes, "Oi, you gonna do anything or just stare?" he asked, the younger looked his way and blinked before he chuckled a little, "Well Chuuya is just so good at setting up the tent!" he smiled as he looked at him with a bright smile, the other only rolled his eyes again as he finished setting up the tent, "Whatever. Just get ready for bed." Dazai was silent before he looked away, "I don't feel tired, I don't exactly feel the need to sleep just yet." he pouted slightly as he didn't meet the other's gaze, Chuuya paused as he looked at him.

"You can't sleep all the sudden?" Dazai crossed his arms and shrugged, "Well..." he shook his head, "Seems like when you're around I seem to get these funny fuzzy dreams." he bit the inside of his cheek as he didn't meet Chuuya's gaze, the man in question raised a brow as he looked at him, "Funny? Like nightmares?" he asked as he set up the sleeping bag inside the tent, laying their things inside as Dazai leaned against a tree as he continued to speak, "No. Like, weird memories." he shrugged as he recalled the dreams in question, Chuuya raised a brow as he looked at him from over his shoulder.

"Memories? Thought you said you didn't really have any of those." he shook his head as he looked back at the tent and placed everything neatly inside the tent, "Yeah well I've been having dreams of being little and hanging around with some lady and all that." he shrugged as he watched Chuuya, "But like, I have no idea who she is." he shook his head as he looked up at the sky, seeing the many stars that were scattered across the darkness, "I can't exactly say I really want to see her again in my dreams just yet." he shrugged, the other looked at him with a raised brow, "Why?" he asked as he looked at him, "That doesn't make sense to me. If she's not bad why avoid sleeping and seeing her?" the taller only shrugged, "Feels too funny. She keeps hiding from me and I don't like it." he spoke in an annoyed tone.

He shook his head as he looked at him, "I don't see why she wouldn't go and tell me who she is instead of being all funny!" Chuuya looked at him and considered what it could be, he shut his eyes as he went into his memories to see if there were any lessons he had been taught about dreams and their meanings.

But he came up empty, he didn't remember anything beyond the bare basics and some of the more interesting facts he had enjoyed listening to when he was a child and studying, and now he was unable to recall anything about what random faceless women in dreams could possibly mean. "Well sorry, but unfortunately for us both my teacher in divination was an old hag that bored everyone to tears." he waved his hand beside him as if he was trying to shoo off a wasp, "And dream reading is a part of divination so I am completely useless here." he looked up at Dazai who stared down at him and chuckled, "Well isn't that just amazing? The one thing you don't know and it's something that can actually have been helpful!"

"Hey!"

Chuuya shook his head and scoffed as he sat on the ground on the dry grass, Dazai shrugged as he looked up at the sky again, he then shook his head and sat down beside Chuuya hugging his knees, "How about Chibi does something good and distracts me?" he asked in a slightly mocking and playful tone of voice, Chuuya shook his head as he looked at the curtain of stars above them, "Well, there is a story that comes from Kalnas and Skalda," the other leaned in closer to listen to him. The other shrugged as he kept on telling the story.

"Years ago, back when the war was still happening." he leaned back as he looked at the sky and hummed as he recalled the story, "There were two people, a boy from Kalnas, and a girl from Skalda." he glanced at Dazai and smiled slightly as he looked at him, "They fell in love," the younger smiled as he rested his head and cheek against his knees as he looked at Chuuya who looked at the stars, "Completely smitten and in love, they couldn't get enough of each other," his smile grew sadder, "Then Skalda faced their greatest loss during the war." he shook his head as he looked at Dazai, "You remember how Skalda is in a crater?" the other snorted, "Who doesn't know that?" he shook his head and smirked.

Chuuya nodded and he snapped his fingers in rhythm, he summoned his magic and allowed it for him to create images as he continued to tell the story, "Well, the way it happened was some Kalnas soldiers went and threw down flaming pieces of wood into the mines and..." he snapped his fingers and the hologram like image of a mountain exploded before them, Dazai blinked and laughed as he looked at it, looking at it quite surprised, "Oh!" he laughed out in bewilderment, Chuuya nodded, "Yup. They went and blew it up," he blew away the picture and it changed into a pair, "So the two ended up getting horribly injured as they were over too close to the explosion to get out unscathed." he snapped his fingers to keep fueling the magic.

"They ended up using their magic to change it all up, make it so they didn't even feel the pain of the damage, their magic kept going even after they died," he smiled as the image changed to that of two fish swimming together going slowly up to the sky, "Their bodies and souls turned to magic and started to swim together into the stars, the lovers united as one who made their way to the heavens." he sighed softly as he rolled his head on his shoulders, "It's the story that holds Kalnas and Skalda together now as sister nations." Dazai watched the fish as they disappeared into the stars and he laughed slightly, "Well what siblings aren't dicks to each other?" he chuckled a little teasingly.

Chuuya rolled his eyes and looked up at the sky again, "Well that's very true, siblings do often get at each other's throats." he shook his head and smiled, "I mean it isn't too bad now, the hard feelings aren't really there anymore and now that story is the story of two gods now," he smiled, "The lovers that united Kalnas and Skalda." he chuckled a little as he looked over at Dazai, "Can you imagine such a thing? Two people so in love that they unite two warring regions?" he smiled a slight sparkle in his eyes as if some of the stars had fallen and were now in his eyes. Dazai almost invisibly blushed as he looked at him and saw the expression on Chuuya's face and smiled.

Dazai felt warm as he looked at Chuuya as the other continued to tell more stories, "Those two also have a story where they tried to reach the stars together! And now with the power of their love they now live in the stars and are able to dance together in the stars in the heavens." he chuckled as he looked up at the sky and smiled as he continued on babbling on various stories, Dazai shut his eyes, Chuuya's voice eventually lulled him to sleep, when Chuuya noticed he looked over and shook his head, "Didn't want to sleep my ass." he rolled his eyes before he picked up Dazai and placed him into the tent and then crawled in beside him before he managed to fall asleep.

Chapter Text

Dazai yawned as he walked alongside Chuuya down the path, he looked up the path ahead, "Sooooo Chuuya you think we'll be able to hitch hike over to Juosmuo?" he tilted his head as he looked at him while they walked on the sandy paths, Chuuya sighed, "That's if anyone is heading to Juosmuo from here." he looked behind them and shook his head as he continued to walk forward, "Don't see anyone so we should keep on going, no point whining now." he chuckled a little dryly as he walked alongside him, the taller shook his head, "I'm not whining!" he huffed.

Chuuya laughed as he looked at him, "You're definitely whining now!" he shook his head as he smiled as he looked at Dazai, "As far as I'm concerned you're definitely fussing." the other didn't look at him, only huffing as he kicked some sand under his feet, "Well it's just so boring here! There's nothing but sand and the same few trees!" he whined out and Chuuya had to admit, Dazai did have a point when he said it, they had been walking for many hours and there was not much to look at and at that it wasn't even anything that could spare them from their boredom by just discussing them.

Dazai looked at him and raised a brow, "Will you do anything to entertain me Chuuya?" he asked with a slight smirk, Chuuya rolled his eyes and shoved Dazai, "I'm not going to baby you Dazai." he chuckled as he continued to walk ahead, he was quite bored as well but at the same time he had no idea what exactly he'd do about it, he didn't exactly have any sort of plans on how to entertain himself either, he was about to start whistling to fill the silence before Dazai spoke a suggestion that made Chuuya have a click in his mind.

"What's it like writing poems all the time? Don't you get bored or run out of ideas?"

Chuuya looked at him and lit up, a smile spread on his cheeks as he started to excitedly speak, "Poems are all about conveying a meaning, a meaning without being extensively direct and like bringing a meaning forward!" he swung his bag ahead of him as he spoke almost to accentuate what he was saying, "It's about implying a meaning well enough the reader feels the feeling in their heart and is able to find the meaning if they look in close enough." he smiled as he looked at Dazai his eyes sparkling with pride and great joy, "It is impossible however for anyone who isn't the writer to truly know what the true initial thought behind the poem is however!"

He laughed as he looked ahead on the path, looking at the sun lit path as he skipped ahead on the path with a smile as he looked at him, "The poem's meaning changes depending on who reads it and all that sticks out is that the words are the same," he smiled and sighed fondly as he looked back at Dazai over his shoulder, "The words have to be carefully chosen so you convey the meaning, making sure that the meaning isn't obvious but at the same time isn't too vague." he smiled as he looked up at the sky ahead and the clouds that rolled forward ahead of them, "It's a careful balancing game and the act of writing the poems on your own and finding a way to capture the reader's heart." he smiled as he felt the lightness in his heart as he for the first time in days thought of something that wasn't the omnipresent threat of Mori over the horizon.

Or the growing fondness he had with Dazai, feeling him grow on him like a sort of fungus.

Dazai smiled at him, "Well what kind of thing does sound fun." he chuckled a little as he considered it, "How about we try making up some poems as we make our way over to our next stop?" he leaned in as he looked at Chuuya, who looked at the other and smiled at him, "Oh really?" he shook his head, "You that bored?" he shook his head, "Well I just really want something to do with Chuuya! I wanna have more fun with him!" he smirked as he spoke in a teasing tone, the other shook his head and smiled, "Well I can't say I haven't been wanting to write more poems." he looked ahead and hummed.

"How about... A haiku style game? One picks a word and the other makes a haiku out of it?" Chuuya suggested as he waved his hand and snapped his fingers in rhythm to a haiku pattern, the way he did it signalled to Dazai the rules of haiku, he smiled, "Alright! Your word is..." he looked around and grinned, "Sand!" Chuuya hummed and shut his eyes, he considered the word and the haiku he could make.

He cleared his throat and started,

"Sand stuck in

You're never getting it out

Of your ass."

Dazai blinked and laughed, "What?! You're a poet and you come up with that?!" he laughed harder and wheezed uncontrollably, he coughed and laughed more and more, Chuuya smirked as he looked at him, "Well I'm shit at Haiku!" Dazai laughed and wheezed, "That's obvious!" he breathed heavily as he caught his breath, he panted and then smiled as he looked over at Chuuya, "That is so obvious!" he chuckled a little, Chuuya smiled as he looked at him, "Plus sand is stupidly bad to make a poem out of!" he shook his head and smiled.

Chuuya considered and smiled as he looked at him, "Your word is...." he stopped dramatically for a moment and then he smirked as he said, "Fling!" he smirked as he looked at him, Dazai blinked and sighed as he shut his eye tight and grit his teeth tight, "Uh...."

"Fling me off a

Cliff with your loving

Arms! "

Chuuya smacked him on the back of the head and laughed as he looked at him, "Oh shut up!" he laughed, "That was even worse than mine!" he shook his head as he looked at him, Dazai laughed as he looked at him, "Oh come on! It's not that bad!" he chuckled and looked ahead on the path and smiled as he considered his next word and snapped his fingers, "Empire!" he chuckled a little as he looked at Chuuya expectantly.

"Empire of ours, in

Forever in paradise only to

Fall to dirt. "

Dazai blinked as he looked at Chuuya, "What's with this whiplash?" he raised a brow as he looked at him a bewildered gaze, "You seem to flip flop between awful and pretty good." Chuuya smirked, feeling a sense of pride at what Dazai said, he had gotten a similar feeling many times over the years and he doesn't exactly care what the directions were, he only spoke with a light smirk, "Well it is my job you know." he chuckled as he looked at Dazai, who huffed and continued to skip ahead on the path.

"Give me my word!"

"Ten!"

"Fuck you!"

"Fuck me yourself you coward!"

The two continued exchanging words and poems back and forth, laughing and teasing one another as they walked, they made their way down the path and they made their way to a crossroads, Dazai paused and looked at the two signs, "Hm?" Chuuya paused alongside him and took out his map and read it, tracing his fingers on the map, "Alright, these two lead to villages at Juosmuo's border, one is a agricultural village and the other is a more..." he narrowed his eyes and then shrugged, "Whatever the word for a place focusing on mining is." Dazai looked at him and raised a brow, "You mean a mining village?" the shorter looked up at Dazai before he shoved him, "Shut it." the act only brought a laugh out of the other.

He smiled before he pointed down the right path, "How about this way?" Chuuya looked at the map, "That goes to the mining village." the other nodded, "Well let's go! I'll die of boredom if nothing changes!" he laughed as he ran along the path, Chuuya gasped and folded the map shoving the map into his pocket and ran after him, "Oi! Dazai!" he yelled as he ran after him and made his way after him, Dazai laughing in delight as they ran side by side together.

It was starting to grow more dim as they made it to the village, the place smelled of coal and sediment, many pushing carts along on the dry dirt, some kids running around and yelling at one another as they played tag, Dazai chuckled a little as he looked at them and saw them chasing one another and yelling, "You remember playing games like that Chuuya?" he asked as he tilted his head, the other looked at him and chuckled a little as he then looked over to the kids as they started to yell at each other.

"You were cheating!"

"No you were!"

"You pushed me!"

"You pushed me!"

Chuuya laughed a little as he looked at the two and he walked beside Dazai, "Yeah definitely, I was the sorest loser ever, all the kids in my area hated playing with me cause I hated losing so bad and shrieked like a banshee." the other shook his head with a smirk, "Oh really? Well I guess some things don't change!" he laughed before he choked as the other slammed his elbow into Dazai's ribs again. "Ow!" he whined as he held his stomach before he looked over at him and smiled, "Hey Chuuya you're strong why don't you-?"

"I'm not slamming my elbow into your skull to try to kill you." Chuuya interrupted sounding bored and unbothered, Dazai only pouted in annoyance, "Damn." he huffed, they were silent for a little while before Chuuya caught on a group setting up a cart, he walked over, "You going to be heading to the capital?" he asked, the men setting up the cart looked at him, "Yeah what of it?" Chuuya pointed at himself, "My friend and I can stock the cart for a ride to the capital." they looked at each other before they laughed slightly, "Can you even lift it? You look tiny as hell!" the oldest laughed as he looked Chuuya up and down, he looked back at the others, "He's as small as Lidija!" he laughed as he made his remark, Chuuya put his bags down on the ground and then picked up one of the crates with only the slightest bit of strain.

He carried it and placed it into the cart no problem, the other men stared at Chuuya as he did.

The silence only broke when Dazai spoke, "I'd let him fold me like a bedsheet." one of the other men nodded as he looked at Dazai, "Good for you man." he patted him on the back as they continued to watch Chuuya bring the crates over to the cart and onto the back pushing them on there was no problem for him.

It wasn't long before the job was done and Dazai and Chuuya were on the back of the cart on their way to Juosmuo's capital, Dazai leaned in closer as he looked at Chuuya, "Could you lift me like-"

"In your dreams punk." he shoved him back as he laid on his bags, getting a pout from Dazai.

Chapter Text

The sun had set many hours earlier, yet Dazai was still wide awake and now poking Chuuya, "Chuuuuya come on, stay alive." he got a groan in response as the other opened his eyes, "What?" he smiled and chuckled, "I'm bored and want Chuuya to keep me company!" the words from the bandaged bastard made Chuuya squint and roll his eyes, "Asshole." he scoffed as he rolled his head on his shoulders.

Dazai chuckled a little before his attention was caught by the darkness dissipating from above them, he looked up and widened as he saw the curtain of stars, it was all sparkling and shimmering above them like a sparkling bit of glitter, he chuckled a little as looked at it, "Hey Chuuya, you know all these stars?" he asked as he shook his shoulder a little, "Come on tell me!" he sparkled as he looked at him and chuckled, Chuuya shook his head and smiled as he looked up at the stars.

"Stop shaking me dude." he huffed as he looked at him with a slight smirk, he knew that Dazai was just messing with him, he didn't have to feed the bored nuisance, however he decided to indulge him, he pointed up to the sky, "See that bright one?" Dazai looked up at which star the other pointed at, he nodded, "Yeah what about it?" Chuuya leaned in and whispered, "That star is known as the tip of the knob if you trace the stars nearby it like this." the words hit him and Dazai choked as he laughed.

"Chuuya! Be serious!" he shook his head and laughed as he looked at the stars with a slight sparkle in his eye as the other rolled his, "Why should I? It's just some fun." he pointed at another constellation, "That's Sagittarius, and it's readying its bow to try and shoot capricorn and miss like it does every damn year." Dazai chuckled a bit more, "Are you just making this stuff up now?" he raised a brow as a smirk was plastered on his face, Chuuya returned a sarcastic smile, "Are you gonna let me sleep asshole?" Dazai snickered, "Come on it's not that late!" he poked Chuuya's cheek, "It's still early~"

Chuuya turned his head to him with an unamused stare, "Dazai." the other snickered a little as he batted his lashes innocently, "Yes?" the ginger pointed at the moon, "That says it's midnight. Mid. Night. Mid night." he snapped his fingers along with his words as he looked at Dazai with a stern stare, the other blinked as he looked at him, "Midnight?" Chuuya narrowed his eyes and considered, "What you having sleep regression? You a baby or toddler?" he chuckled as he shook his head in mild amusement, Dazai pouted in response.

"Come on, I just don't want to miss anything on our trip!" he huffed and looked back at the stars and smiled, "It's my first time I have ever been able to be away from Mori, I mean he's family, only thing of it I have ever had." he rested his hands on his stomach as he looked at the stars as they twinkled from above him, "He raised me for as long as I can remember, it isn't like I was well, doing all too great being with him so many years but he's all I ever knew all that well," he sighed and shut his eye, "I don't remember the last time I was free like this, feels kinda weird being on my own and having you around, and..." he turned his head to look at Chuuya and sighed softly, "I haven't even been focusing all that much on how to die as much as I used to." Chuuya listened to him and nodded slowly.

Dazai smiled as he looked at him, "Who would of guessed that I would stop thinking about killing myself as much because of a slug?" Chuuya shoved him, "Fuck you I'm going to bed." this only got a series of chuckles from the other as he turned his attention back to the stars with a smile on his face, he wasn't lying, he was in fact starting to enjoy being alive because of everything that was going on.

Chapter Text

When Chuuya opened his eyes it was because of a freezing feeling that started to nip at his nose, as he sat up he noticed their surroundings, the growing blanket of snow on their surroundings and the wind biting at his cheeks and nose turning them a shade redder. Great. It's truly winter. He paused a moment before he blew out some air, it coming out as a bright white puff, he smiled and chuckled as he noticed it.

He blew out another puff of air as he turned to see where the cart was heading, he felt a bit of relief warm his chest as he noticed the city coming into view, it was full of many brick buildings with red roofs, most of the roofs being however hidden under a layer of snow. The street lamps were still alight despite it starting to become light out, he chuckled softly as he noticed, "Guess they have a heating element in those lamps to keep the mice up there." one of the men in the cart with them chuckled as he looked at Chuuya, "You got that right, keeps them from hibernating and leaving us all in the dark." he chuckled as he looked ahead at his horse, the stallion walking without much concern or fuss.

Chuuya looked up at the sky, the snow peppered down on them, he sighed softly, he knew that it would come sooner rather than later but he wasn't exactly the happiest about the weather and growing cold. Sure hypothermia isn't a problem for Dazai, his curse made it so he'd not die no matter what, but Chuuya? He could actually freeze to death and end up being a frozen icicle. He opened his chest and pulled out a coat, slipping it onto himself, Dazai awoke and lifted his head and tilted his head, "Hm?" he blinked as he looked at him.

Chuuya chuckled as he looked at him, "It's winter, you should bundle up a little." he shut his own chest and clasped it shut, Dazai nodded as he looked at his own and started to poke around inside for a good enough coat against the cold, which he hardly possessed. If Dazai was honest, every year he avoided getting a proper coat in hopes this would be the year he froze to death by just walking around like he normally did.

He found his best approximation to a winter coat and put it on, it being a black, old and moth eaten thing that while covering and protective against wind wasn't exactly something anyone would actually wear in a snowy winter environment. Chuuya stared at it before he face palmed, "We should buy you a coat once we get access to my bank." Dazai brightened as he looked at him, "We'll have spending money again?!" Chuuya shot him a look and shoved him, "For essentials Dazai. Essentials." he reiterated.

Dazai pouted as he looked at him, "Only essentials? Come oooooooon Chuuya!" he whined as he threw himself onto Chuuya, the other groaned and shoved him, "Shut up! We have to feed and house ourselves first dumbass!" he scolded him, Dazai pouted as he looked up at him and he started to make his eyes glossy like a puppy attempting to plead and whine to get a piece of its owner's dinner, Chuuya looked down at him unamused and flicked his forehead, "Quit it." he scolded as he looked over to where the capital was not too far away from them now.

They hopped out of the cart and parted ways with the other men and started to walk their way into the city, Dazai looked at Chuuya a little curiously, "How long we going to stay in Juosmuo before we head to our next stop?" he chuckled as he smiled at him, Chuuya considered, We do have some things to do... We have to get money from my bank, send a letter to mine to inform them I am still alive and they don't have to hold my funeral... Telling Oda's family what happened to him... Making sure Dazai is actually clothed properly for winter... Dazai blinked as he looked at Chuuya seeing how lost in thought he was from just a simple question.

Chuuya sighed as he leaned his head back, "I think a week or two." Dazai gasped, "We're staying some time?!" he laughed and grinned as he looked at Chuuya, the man shrugged, "Yeah, we're going to stay a little while." he chuckled a little as he looked around the city as he noticed the state of it, he supposed he'd have to figure things out faster than he thought, about what he'd be doing for the time, Dazai hummed as he thought a moment before he laughed, "Maybe we can go and talk with Odasaku's parents and ask them if they'll have us!" Chuuya gulped, "Sure." he chuckled softly as he looked at him and then ahead slightly, "I'm sure it'll be good for us to catch them up on what Oda and Ango were up to since the last time they visited." Chuuya in truth was still nervous that he was going to end up with telling two strangers that their son and husband died at the hands of a maddened doctor.

Dazai chuckled as he walked ahead looking at the street signs, "If I remember correctly they live down Violetta lane on the first floor of a green and red building called 'Sodas built 4'!" he pointed and laughed a little as he started to make his way there, Chuuya gasped and ran after him, "Dazai!" he yelled as he ran after him down the streets, stumbling slightly on the ice, if there was one thing Chuuya knew was that he was NOT going to be enjoying neither the ice, the bruises he'd get from falling on his ass, or the conversation Dazai was about to walk them into.

If anything, it was even worse on Chuuya as now he wouldn't be able to run away from the fact that Oda and Ango were dead and unable to hide that from Dazai especially, he would be unable to keep it a secret any longer. He'd need to be upfront and tell Dazai that the people he's known as practically family were dead because of his adoptive father. Chuuya swallowed as he looked ahead with as much determination that he could possibly muster within him. He had to tell them.

There was no way to avoid it now. He'd have to tell them.

He'd have to tell Dazai

He did his best to focus on something, anything, else than what he was dealing with and would say to Oda's family and admit to Dazai. He looked and noticed a young father carrying a snow shovel and a toddler girl on his back as a boy whined at him, "Come on dad! We have to make sure the snow doesn't stick at the park!" he whined as he pulled his arm, his father sighed only to get his glasses fogged up, "Wait Paulius my glasses are-"

"Again?!" the small boy whined as he was forced to stop. Chuuya chuckled slightly but the mundane scene did little to calm him as he continued to look around for something else and caught sight of a man in a long coat and blond hair smoking from a pipe leaning against a building by a store front waiting for it to open, but his presence did nothing to calm him. The stones under his feet and the way he was struggling not to slip on them was something ghat distracted him but briefly and not long enough to at least cause his heart to calm down.

It was almost impossible for Chuuya to notice when he and Dazai made it to the house, the place wasn't exactly too bad, it was a simple brick house, white bricks, the doors a light oak wood, the curtains that Chuuya saw was a simple light blue pattern with daisies being placed on them. Inside he could see middle aged adults, both with dark reddish brown hair and wearing yellowed button up shirts and dark pants. Chuuya felt himself growing more and more anxious as Dazai waved in the window to the woman, who curiously perked up and walked to the front door and opened it, "Osamu? What are you doing here?" she asked curiously as she looked him up and down.

He chuckled a little as he looked at her, "Well me and a buddy decided to take an impromptu trip around! We're stopping in Juosmuo a week or so apparently." he looked at Chuuya and pulled him in closer to himself as he pointed at him a bright smile on his face, "This is Chuuya Nakahara! He moved to Novo and got ditched by his friends before Odasaku picked him up out of pity like he's a little puppy in a box in the rain!" Chuuya sputtered going bright red before shoving him, "Shut it! It wasn't like that!" he cried out in complete embarrassment, that giving him the distraction he desperately needed.

She giggled lightly as she looked at them, "Oh dear!" she shook her head before she called behind her, "Dear! Sakunosuke's friends came to visit us!" they heard no response aside from a grunt, she giggled a little as she looked at them, "Come inside you two must be freezing!" Chuuya nodded, "Can't say I'm not a little chilled." he followed Dazai inside and gulped as he took off his coat and hung it beside Dazai's on the coat rack, his eyes catching on a multitude of pictures, many hung up on the walls in wooden frames of varying sizes.

From Oda's baby photos, to his other childhood photos, family photos, school photos, photos of Oda and Ango's wedding, it seemed to impossibly go on and on, Chuuya felt his heart stop as he looked at all of the photos, the sheer quantity of them making him lose a lot of his courage that he had prior to entering through the front door, the sight of all the photos made it abundantly obvious that the couple adored their son, there was no way Chuuya could stomach telling them, but at the same time, he couldn't stomach not telling them what happened either, he'd have to tell them, now, not later, not never, that day, during his first visit to their home.

Chuuya looked after Dazai and followed behind him into the kitchen, his heart aching as he sat down at the kitchen table, he pulled on his sleeves anxiously, the other chuckled a little as he looked at him, "Aww Chuuya's nervous meeting Odasaku's family!" he smiled as he teased, Oda's mother giggled a little as she looked at Chuuya, "Oh don't be, we don't bite!" she started to prepare some tea, "So how has Sakunosuke been? He hasn't sent us any letters in some weeks now." Chuuya gulped slightly as he looked at her, "Well... Dazai knows a lot of things better than I do." he nudged him as he tried his best to figure out what in the world he was supposed to say to them, it made him feel immensely nervous as he tried to find his words.

Dazai laughed as he looked at him, "Gosh you're being so shy and quiet for once, like a mouse!" he shook his head before he started to talk about what Oda had been doing since the last time he visited his parents, Oda's mother placed down a cup of tea for them both, the amber liquid dancing in the cup as the tea steeped into the hot water, Chuuya cupped the cup in his hands as he desperately thought about what in the world he was supposed to tell them.

"Before we left Chuuya did talk to him and he mentioned-"

"Dazai."

He paused and looked at him, "It wasn't exactly true that I talked to him about the trip, he did mention something else." she paused and looked at Chuuya, "What do you mean?" Chuuya sipped the hot tea, the burn on his tongue making him gain the ability to say what happened out loud and distract him from the immense nausea he felt in his body, "A few weeks after Ango went missing, during the night Oda woke me up so we'd go looking in Mori's place for him to find him," he kept his eyes trained on the cup and the burning hot liquid inside, he kept his hands tight around the cup, the burning pain making him keep his focus on what he was saying.

" I followed him inside, using my magic to make myself into a shadow, I had been looking around the place and found a basement area." he felt bile biting at the back of his throat, he could almost taste it as he continued to struggle and force the words out of his throat, the struggle immense like pushing massive boulder up hill, "When I was there I ended up stuck in a shadow behind a shelf. I saw everything that happened after that from that spot..." he placed a hand over his mouth and gag, he swallowed down the bile and forced himself to continue.

"Mori, he was furious, he explained to Oda about this 'Numquam mortui' thing." he recalled the memory and took a deep breath sipping his tea as Dazai paused, "Numquam mortui? The hell is-"

"It's what prevents you from dying. Keeps you alive for some reason, I wasn't able to listen too closely as he showed this needle." he gulped as the memory made it to him, the sight of the crimson liquid inside the vial, "He dropped Ango's glasses into his lap and taunted him. He said that he had tried one formula on Ango and that he'd try another on him, using more blood in the equation." the others at the table stared but now that Chuuya started he couldn't stop saying the words as they came to him.

"He injected the liquid into his arm and he-" he gagged and covered his mouth and bowed his head, he shook his head as his eyes seemed to burn brightly as he remembered everything that happened.

The smell.

The sight.

The sound.

Everything that had happened in that basement and all that occurred that he had previously manage to bury down through his concerns for Dazai and his focus on getting home using the long way, he did his best to get his way over to make it back to Kalnas and outrun the doctor. But now, now that he had said it and made what he saw real, he couldn't hide from the memory anymore, the warm house he was in slipped away from his perception, the amber liquid in the white cup and the light yellow flower patterned table cloth were in his line of vision but they were blurry and shaky as he didn't quite see them right.

Cracks of red seemed to enter his mind and vision, like blood staining the yellow tablecloth and making it appear to him like a moving flesh mound, popping and bubbling under the surface like a popping soup that was boiling over the pot and spilling over, Chuuya couldn't seem to breathe, it was impossible to escape, he was breathing ragged, his throat burned and ached as he felt the very inside of his body seeming to uncontrollably itch and the inside of his body feeling like fire ants were under his skin and poison ivy was rubbing against all of his organs and making a point of causing as much pain and discomfort as possible.

He was trembling as the others at the table looked at him and realised completely the truth of his words, Dazai stared at Chuuya in shock as the ginger covered his eyes shaking, Oda's mother's face drained completely of blood and her hand went to her mouth as tears started to well in her eyes, Oda's father's stoic mask broke his eyes were wide and his mouth agape as he tried to process what happened and what Chuuya had told them.

"I... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." Chuuya croaked out as he trembled uncomfortably, "I... I wish I could have done something to save him... I-I am so sorry..." Dazai was silent as he stared at him and pulled him closer to his chest, he wasn't himself breathing, he was in shock, unable to process fully what happened. Oda's father was silent for some time before he spoke, "Tell me boy, did he die fast?" Chuuya uncovered his eyes as he looked at the man, who returned a firm almost result expression and gaze, the younger man swallowed and answered, looking down at his hands, "I can't be sure, ever time I remember it seems to get longer and longer..." the elder man nodded as he shut his eyes to take in the information.

His wife sat in a silent bit of shock as she looked at Chuuya and Dazai, she gave the younger of the two a look, a 'did you know?' look, Dazai looked at her and shook his head, she nodded and looked at Chuuya, "So... This trip, it was to run away?" he nodded, "Yes." he sighed out the words, unable to speak all too loud, he was unable to quite process what else he could say. The couple were silent after that, the room was dead silent, the tea growing cold, eventually Oda's mother spoke up, "The longer break here is to sort out some business to be able to continue on isn't it?" Chuuya slowly nodded, "We're low on money and food." she nodded and stood up.

The two young men were left silent as she walked and prepared something, she returned with a heavy bag of gold and placed it in front of Chuuya, "This is what I can give, it's 200 gold. If you have anything else to sort give it to me and continue on your way boys." Chuuya nodded and took out a folded paper and handed it to her, "Deliver this for me please." she nodded as she accepted it, "Of course." Chuuya nodded and looked back at the cold tea before he accepted the bag hesitantly, she shoved it into his hands, a silent insistence. He gulped and nodded accepting it before he hid it in his luggage, Dazai stood from the table to longer touching his tea, his eye a shade redder, Oda's mother looked at him and sighed softly before she hugged him.

Dazai shivered as he returned the hug shaking slightly as he held onto her, he breathed out a trembling breath as he looked at her, the news was so hard on them both, the two holding onto each other, the hug comforting them both in the moment.

Time passed, they left Oda's parents home, Oda's mother giving Dazai Oda's old beige coat, he silently accepted it, the two young men were silent as they made their way over to the train station, hardly taking in the sights as they made their way over and Dazai and Chuuya were in front of the train station desk, Chuuya bought the tickets to Kristi and they made it out and made their way to their platform. They didn't even take in anything but the number plates that showed the platform numbers, Dazai didn't even remember when they got there.

He only manage to return into his body when they sat down in their carriage, he looked around, noticing the red velvet seats and the window and the door present that kept their carriage separate from the hall and the other carriages. He sighed softly as he leaned against the walla and the seat, he was silent for some time before he spoke, "Why didn't you tell me?" he asked in a quiet voice, Chuuya looked at him before he looked out the window and sighed softly, "I couldn't stomach it. I could hardly think of the words without being sick." he considered what else he sighed softly as he confessed and hugged himself.

"I also couldn't seem to find the strength to tell you." he shook his head, his heart felt cold and frozen over as he spoke the words, "I didn't want to ruin the fragile joy you had, even if you had it temporarily, and even if it wasn't to last..." he lifted his head as he looked at Dazai, he stood up from where he sat and took Dazai's hand, he gripped it tightly, "I am sorry." Dazai lifted his head as he looked at Chuuya, his eye appeared almost like that of a dead fish. He sighed softly as knocked his head against Chuuya's shoulder, "I hate you." the statement however held no bite as he said it, Chuuya didn't feel any pain at it however.

The train started to rumble under them as they didn't move apart, Dazai spoke quietly, the words being the only ones he'd say for the next few days.

"You should have left me behind to rot."

Chapter Text

Oda up the creaking steps of the far too empty home, it was far too empty, the wooden boards were dark spruce, strong and sturdy, the wallpaper being a soft yellow shade and the pattern being that of a gentle blue bell flower pattern, the one he and Ango had chosen years ago when they had purchased the house 6 years prior when they had been newly graduated students and not all that newly weds. He was tired, but he didn't seem to be able to properly feel it anymore, he just had one thought left in his mind after he had dealt with days of mourning for the man he had sworn to be with until death do them part had never returned.

He knew it in his heart when Ango didn't return home that night when he had told them that he would be investigating Mori's home and that he'd be able to figure out what the suspicious activity in Mori's home was about. Oda knew that Ango died that night, he felt it in the afternoon when he considered what could have happened to him, something was just obvious as he considered it with everything he intuitively knew what happened to Ango. It had been about 2 or 3? Probably 4 weeks since Ango "went missing" and Oda was no longer able to stomach the ideas anymore, he couldn't live any more knowing he was gone and his killer was not caught and just walking free.

He opened the door into the attic and made their way inside and looked at Chuuya's sleeping form on the bed, in the simple room it was easy to see where Chuuya was, his simple bed frame and desk against a wall that was easy to see from the door, his chest laid beside the bed and not far from the attic window. Oda slowly walked over to the sleeping man, he placed his hand on Chuuya's shoulder and started to at first gently, and then roughly started to shake his shoulder. Waking up the younger with a jolt, he opened his eyes and looked up at Oda startled, "H-huh?!" he cried out as he looked at him, still awakening.

Oda looked at him firmly, "Chuuya." he narrowed his eyes as he looked at him with a dead, resigned look, if anything he was likely mentally dead long before he came into the room, "We're going to Dazai's." he moved away from Chuuya, "You should pack up your things just in case," the younger looked at him confused as he got out of bed, Oda spoke bluntly, "Get dressed too." Chuuya did as he was told, partially in confusion and partially in confusion.

"You should go as a shadow, that way it'll be easier." the younger stared at him, "But how exactly? Can't I just-" however he was interrupted, "Just do it Chuuya." the young man nodded and stood up a little hesitant as he wrote a poem into his skin, channeling his magic and changing his form into a shadow that followed Oda inside his shadow.

They started to walk over to the house, well, Oda was jogging and Chuuya was following as he looked around, it was the middle of the night, it was impossible for anyone to expect that someone, anyone, was awake, likely only a select few would be awake at such a late hour of night. Maybe the odd student cramming for mid terms, someone reading through a book that they were really into or maybe someone finishing some of the work they didn't finish during the day. Normally Chuuya would be comforted to be exploring outside so late, he was always fond of the dark afterall.

He was silent as they made it over to Dazai's house, over only one of the windows was a cage, keeping the window unable to open at all, being completely shut. It looked like a cage in a prison, as if Dazai was a prisoner inside, "You move in under the door, I'll go around." he spoke in a low tone, Chuuya nodded and started to move under the door, he looked around, the place wasn't much different than every other house he'd seen, he noticed some picture frames, multiple being of some blonde girl and some with Dazai. Chuuya's curiosity got the best of him and he moved around and peeked into Dazai's room.

Inside it was not a great space, one where there were clothes thrown around and a small dresser that clearly was only occasionally used, an unmade bed that had the familiar bastard inside it, fast asleep Dazai was laying there, he looked lonely and sad, like an animal in a cage left alone with no signs of care or love, left alone in the dark lonely cage with nothing to do and no one to speak to them at the very least, he was looking so pathetic and lonely in that space.

Chuuya wanted to walk closer and touch him and comfort him in some way, but he shook his head and made his way back out of the room and moved around, everything else was as it should be in any home, just with an almost inhuman and unlived, like a display case, the air seemed to be impossibly sterile. He looked over to the basement door, the door was slightly creaked open and unfortunately for Chuuya he was immensely curious and could not contain himself as he made his way into the room, slowly down the steps.

He looked around briefly, moving to the shadow at a metal bookshelf, he started to observe more carefully and he noticed that the floor was made out of tile, same as ones one would find in a bathroom or pool, the air smelled impossibly sterile from alcohol and cleaning supplies and at the same time, completely rancid like something had died in there. Chuuya gasped in surprise when his eyes caught on a tiny eyeball rolling from under the metal shelf, it was then that Chuuya looked at what was on the shelf.

Almost an unbelievable amount of cages were on the shelves with there being many mice and rats in each, some having odd growths and rashes on exposed skin, their fur having either fallen out or shaved off, many cowered as they hid in the edges of the cages giving a clear view of what was behind them, the metal bars giving way to seeing a laboratory past him, a work table covered in many vials and tubes of an endless variety of shades of red liquids and fluids, from a pale red to a deep almost black red. The surrounding area wasn’t a pretty sight, by the table there were some chairs covered in multiple mounds of flesh that slipped down and dripped onto the tile floors that seemed to stay oddly white and pure, like freshly laden snow on the first day of winter it appeared pure and sweet and innocent.

The bile in Chuuya’s stomach grew active and bubbled up his throat, it burning his esophagus as it crawled its way up and clawed at Chuuya’s throat and tongue the acidic taste being the only thing that seemed to be real in the basement space that Chuuya was stuck looking at, his eyes turned to the work desk again as he forced his hand to his mouth as if to will his stomach acid to return to his stomach and settle down as he seemed to perceive the mounds of unknown mysterious flesh, at least Chuuya tried to convince himself that the mounds weren’t flesh, rodent or human he couldn’t quite allow himself to think of the flesh as flesh in the slightest. They’re just some gelatine! he thought, he desperately wanted to believe it, he wanted to believe that this was some nightmare and that he was actually still in bed, comfortable and safe and not inside the inhumanely cold basement that he was currently in.

The cold, the cold he hardly noticed when he entered the room but the longer he stayed the more it felt like he was thrown out into the cold with nothing but his pajamas or like he was tossed out into a lake that had yet to warm up to be any bit comfortable to swim in. he tried to will himself not to shiver but the act was futile, he glanced at the mice who seemed to be looking right at him, staring at him with equally petrified stares, while it wasn’t uncommon for a prey animal to be afraid or startled by the smallest of things Chuuya had never seen before that one or at that several tens of them would look at anything with such unrestrained and untamed horror, their eyes sending Chuuya a single message…

Run.

He turned on his heels more than eager to leave and make his way out of the nightmare he was in, run to the police and report every single thing he saw in the basement but to his shock he couldn’t seem to move from behind the bookshelf. He looked down and his eyes widened as he realised the cause, the connected shadows he used to get behind the bookshelf were gone, not even a single shred of shadow remained for him to travel through, he was stuck until either the lights in the basement went out or the door opened and caused another bit of shadow. As he looked at the door his heart paused, as if someone took the needle off mid record and caused the song to completely go silent, a carefully placed carving was on the door, Chuuya tried to will himself to remember what he learned of charms and cursed himself mentally for not paying too close attention in class when he was supposed to be learning them.

His thoughts were paused as he considered what exactly the door being shut meant, his ears abruptly picking up on the sound of something being dragged, something heavy and weighted, he snapped his head around and his eyes widened as he saw Oda being dragged by a man dressed in dark denim pants and a white button up shirt, the sleeves of which were rolled up above his elbows and at his hands were a pair of leather gloves that had clearly seen better days, far better days, his hair was a longer black, shiny and glossy, clearly not recently watched and from how thin it looked even from a distance Chuuya could guess that the man was older than his strength suggested, if he had to guess the man was in his 40s. The man was Ougai Mori, Dazai’s adoptive father, Chuuya recalled something that now seemed especially important to remember.

.

“You know Dazai, you never seem to mention your family before.” Chuuya chuckled as he tapped ash into the ashtray that stood at the railing of the terrace, he turned his head to the other man as he continued his line of questioning, “Or are you just some stray that Ango and Oda feed against their better judgement?” Dazai barked out a laugh, “Oh please! Of course I have a family! I’m not some poor lonely orphan on the streets!” the shorter man nudged him, “Well you sure dress like some poor homeless orphan! Do I need to throw some coins your way to support your suicidal antics!?” The two laughed and shook their heads, “I’ll have you know I am quite happily a ward of Ougai Mori, he’s like an adoptive father you could say, simple as that,” he smiled as he explained what he meant to the other.

“He’s a weird loner guy but I don’t mind too much, he just stays down in the basement working.”

.

Chuuya moved closer to the shelf to peek at what was going on, his eyes widened like that of the rodents was he watched Oda get strapped into one of the chairs, his body slightly limp as he looked at him, he looked almost like a ragdoll from where he was looking at the two men. Mori stood and waited until Oda lifted his head with a hiss, “You…” he growled as he looked at him, “What is wrong with you..?” His words came out weakly, as if he had been tranquilized or numbed in some way to make his words significantly harder to speak and understand, or at that, hear, Chuuya strained his ears as he did his best to listen in to what was being said. Mori was silent as he walked over to the work desk, “Hm? Wrong?” he looked at him with an unbothered, cold and calculated stare as he looked at him, he looked at him in the same way one would look at a stain they were about to wash away. “I am simply disposing of another intruder,” he picked up something shiny and metal from the work desk, “I must admit, I don’t exactly mind intruders all that much, they make fantastic human subjects.”

The air went dead as the man walked over and dropped a pair of glasses onto Oda’s lap.

Ango’s glasses.

The prompt of what it all meant hit Oda like a landslide, his voice unable to restrain the grieved screams that escaped him, yet somehow Chuuya was able to hear what Mori was saying as clear as crystal. “I have been trying to create the correct formula but I can’t seem to figure out the right formula, somehow every single subject dies and falls apart despite all of my efforts.” he sighed as he looked at the many options of red fluid, “Perhaps I should use more of Osamu’s blood to make it work?” he collected the redder fluid into a needle, Chuuya paused as his thoughts raced as he pieced together the details of what the man had just implied…

Osamu? Wait a minute isn’t that Dazai’s first-

…

Oh gods no..

He grew paler and Oda yelled, “What the hell are you doing?!” he yelled as he glared at Mori with complete unrestrained fury as he started to fight against the leather restraints of the chair he was stuck in as the doctor only continued to stalk forward to him, “Experimenting, like any good doctor does.” His steps seemed to be impossibly slow, everything seemed to slow down in the few minutes it took for the man to inject the fluid into Oda.

“Your sacrifice is very appreciated.”

The fluid disappeared into Oda’s skin and flesh and as it circulated in his body, his voice was unrestrained as he screamed in pure agony as he could not stop screaming as the burning agony burned through his entire body without any sort of ability for him to do anything but scream as his flesh started to pop and boil, blood and viscera almost unendingly spewing and splattering forth, bones popping out of Oda’s body the white briefly appearing before they too seemed to boil and pop, appearing like they’re popcorn before they shattered apart into splinters, Oda’s eyes popped and splattered, he slowly became one of the many mounds of flesh that laid around in the room.

Mori watched with old scientific distance as he sighed softly as he took note of what happened to Oda.

Chuuya was more frantic, he looked around desperate to not see what was happening to Oda, to not see his death as it happened just a few steps away from him.

He held his breath as he looked up and noticed the charm on the door, he breathed out in disbelief as he realised what it was, he now realised what exactly the charm was for, it was made to keep in any and all sounds that happened inside the basement and made it soundproof. Explaining why and how Dazai wasn’t awoken by the tormented yowls of his best friend, the man was fast asleep and unable to know what was happening two floors below him. And Chuuya was stuck unable to do anything, he was stuck, like the rodents he couldn’t escape where he was, stuck and unable to move around from where he was behind the bookshelf, that being the only thing separating him from Mori and the state of the flesh mounds that were once people, he at that realised what exactly was happening, he realised that the mounds had clothes as well, making the smell even more pervasive and invasive as it was nothing pleasant.

Chuuya had been punished by throwing out animal skins and innards before as a child, he had frequently done things that brought the punishment over onto him, he had once thought of the task of having to throw out the gross meat pieces to the dogs to eat as part of their dinner to have been something he didn’t mind and quite boring after the first few times he had gone and thrown out the innards for the dogs to consume.

But now?

Now he couldn’t stomach the idea of looking at uncooked meat, or meat at all.

Mori slowly walked his way to the door, he held his breath as he looked at the man, Mori climbed up the steps and opened the door, creating enough shadows for Chuuya to slip free into the darkness in the hallways and he swiftly fled away, running back to the house.

Chapter Text

Dazai opened his eye within the dream.

He was met by the familiar clouded white and blue sky that appeared in his oddly warm dreamscape.

The woman was sat beside him looking ahead, her face slightly in view now.

But at the same time it was nothing but a series of paint smudges on a pallet, like water color placed on a page that was far too wet to stay in place and mixing with some drying gouche. A distant memory one could only vaguely recall but yet couldn't quite get it to clear and lose any bit of the fog that covered her face, her hair was long and a chestnut brown that seemed to be getting darker or lighter in the moment, as if the exact detail of it was lost.

Dazai hummed as he found his words.

"Who are you?"

She was silent before she brushed his hair back.

"Who. Are. You?"

She was silent again before she spoke.

"I believe I am your mother, at least I feel that way to you."

"Mother?"

She nodded as she looked down at him, her face fully revealed. He at times could make out some facial features, but he couldn't make out a full legible face.

"Yes."

"I don't remember having a mother."

"You don't remember anything from before you became a Numquam mortui."

He couldn't quite understand what she was talking about, but he did remember Chuuya mentioning something of Numquam mortui, something about it related to Oda's and Ango's deaths.

"What is that anyway?"

"A living dead, someone who came back."

Dazai paused she pulled his hair out of his face, she sighed as she spoke.

"When you died, I had my heart shatter and I could no longer live."

He was silent as he listened.

"I saw how you were awoken from the eternal sleep, missing all the memories from before and now you are left alone with no recollection, being the only Numquam mortui to have ever aged."

Dazai was silent for some time before he spoke.

"So I'm a living corpse?"

"Yes."

Dazai was silent again before he spoke one last line before he awoke.

"Why me?"

Chapter Text

Dazai slowly opened his eye in the dim carriage, he and Chuuya had been silent, only on occasion ordering meals before they returned to sleep not long after. He hummed as he turned his head to see Chuuya sleeping uneasily on the other seat just a few steps across from him.

Now that Dazai had around a day and a half to think through everything Chuuya said and process his motives in silence and everything Chuuya had done for him in the past two weeks? He didn't feel upset with Chuuya, oddly he felt quite pleased knowing that he had done his best to make sure Dazai was happy and that he'd be enjoying their trip instead of seeing it for what it really was, an escape plan made up on the fly by a panicked man who stood at below the average height for men his age and upbringing.

He smiled slightly as he made his way off the seat and walked over to Chuuya he looked down at him and chuckled a little as he looked at him, he moved in and pressed his lips against his forehead, gently awakening Chuuya from his slumber, he smiled as he looked down at him, "Morning Chuuya." he chuckled as he rested his head on his hands that cradled his face, the other man sighed as he looked at him, "What you want Dazai?" he asked as he stared up at him tiredly, then he noticed the look in his eye, oddly enough, not angry or withdrawn, but happy in an odd way.

"I wanted to ask you something about what happened." he smiled as he looked at him, Chuuya sighed as he rolled from his side onto his back, "What do you want?" he asked as he looked at him from the corner of his eye, slightly disinterested in a lot of what was going on from where he was on the long seat, Dazai hummed before he leaned in closer to him, "How did you know he used my blood in particular?" he asked in a low tone, his eyes slowly narrowed as he looked down at him, Chuuya sighed as he shut his eyes, "He said it himself, he wondered aloud how to make the formula work for whatever the hell he was planning on doing." Dazai nodded slowly as he looked down at him.

"I see." he laid his head next to Chuuya on the seat next to the other's, he was silent for a few beats before he spoke, "Since we are being honest I will admit that I am actually a virgin," Chuuya turned his head staring at Dazai, he stared at him with a growing sense of bewilderment, "What?" he asked, Dazai chuckled a little, "I lied about having sex, never had it." he smiled at him, Chuuya blinked as he looked at him, "Of all things you could have said, that is what you said?" Dazai blinked and looked at him with a glossy eyed stare like he was a puppy begging for a scrap of food.

"Chuuya you wound me!" he gasped dramatically as he threw himself back, the shorter man watched him as he fell back on the floor of the carriage, it was then that Chuuya noticed the lack of true rumbling below them for the likes of something like a moving train, before Dazai could whine and fuss any more than he already was, Chuuya moved and opened the curtains, to be met with a sight of pure white, no ability to see anywhere ahead aside from the white. The lack of response to his whining prompted Dazai to look up, he moved his head up and climbed up as he looked outside as well, "Oh my..." he gasped as he took in the sight, Chuuya sighed, "I guess we're at a stop since the blizzard is too much for the train to keep moving." he looked back at Dazai who looked back at him with a curious look.

"We won't be moving? Like at all?" he asked as he pressed his hand on the window, the feeling of freezing glass on his skin was like placing a hand on a block of ice that didn't seem to melt, "You see the state of things? Trying to move is suicidal," Dazai chuckled as he heard Chuuya's words, moving his hand off the window, seeing where his body heat had melted a handprint in the frost, which was quickly filled in again by fresh frost, "And what of the snow on the tracks?" he snickered, "Will we be stuck because of that too?" Chuuya rolled his eyes, "No. It'll be powder snow, it can be blown off." he shook his head as he sat down on his seat again, "We'll have to wait it out. Nothing can move when the weather is like this." Dazai blinked as he looked at the ginger.

"Got any games we can play to keep us busy?" he smiled as he tilted his head, Chuuya considered, he had packed a set of cards, he hadn't used them much when he was in Novoselic but he supposed that now they would come in handy. He found the cards in his luggage, "You know any card games?" he offered, Dazai lit up, "I know poker!" he grinned, Chuuya shook his head, "Requires a dealer." he looked back to consider the options they had, "You know black Jack?" he asked, the other only shook his head.

"Go fish?"

"Do I look 5?"

"Ugh. Spoons?"

"What's that?"

"500 rum?!"

"No thank you!"

"DAZAI I SWEAR TO ALL THAT IS WICKED AND SULLIED IN THE WORLD!!!"

A knock came on their door, one of the train attendants alerting them to quiet down no doubt. Though Chuuya saw them place a talisman, he guessed that they were charming all the rooms, to make sure that everyone had privacy and also didn't disturb each other, though as far as Chuuya cared, he wasn't exactly fond of any of such charms anymore since what happened in Novoselic.

Chuuya face palmed and groaned, "I hate you."

Dazai was silent a few minutes before he leaned in closer to Chuuya, "Hey I have another idea for what we could do!" he smiled, Chuuya looked back at him, "And what might that be?" the taller man moved his hand past him to one of the compartments that laid against walls and under the seats, pulling out a bottle of oil, "Maybe we can play with this?" he asked as he smirked, Chuuya read the label, his cheeks reddening as he looked at it.

The label read 'Aloe Vera oil, ideal for intimate activities'.

Chuuya looked at Dazai, who smiled, "Come on, we don't have anything better to do," he leaned in closer whispering in a sultry tone, "Do we?" he practically purred out the words, however Chuuya still paused, Who the hell offers up their virginity cause they're bored?! He narrowed his eyes as he looked at Dazai, "And why are you offering? Most don't normally offer up sex just cause they have no better idea of how to pass the time." Dazai blinked before he sighed, "You're no fun Chuuya!" the other man however wasn't having this childish act and grabbed his wrist as the other attempted to pull away, "Explain yourself. Why are you doing this?" he spoke firmly as he looked at him with a firm gaze.

Dazai paused before he smiled softly, "Nothing gets past you does it?" he looked down where their hands were so close before he spoke, he looked softer, more vulnerable and real, "I'll be truthful then." he spoke in a soft sigh as he moved his eye to meet Chuuya's, "I simply wish to experience something human, something that hasn't been quite tarnished by anything else," he chuckled softly as he thought back to what he had dealt with in the prison of his thoughts, he wasn't exactly fully sure what it meant to be human, and hearing he was a living dead? The feeling was not something that could easily fought with only reminders that he possessed traits of a human.

He sighed as he looked at Chuuya, "I want to try it, and you're the only one who seems to be worth the job, help me do so, please," he leaned back and shut his eye, "I want to feel human, try being intimate, be a human in that way," he chuckled softly as he remembered how everyone around him spoke of it as such a good thing, something that you had to experience to truly understand, he knew it wasn't exactly something he ever considered before, but now that his sense of humanity was so fragile? He was desperate to know that feeling and be able to human again after his identity as one was denied so strongly by his own new knowledge of being an undead.

"I want you to show me," he opened his eye by a crack however he didn't look up to meet Chuuya's gaze, "I want you to teach me how I am not just some undead, please Chuuya I-"

Dazai's words were silenced by a kiss given by Chuuya, causing him to melt under his touch, the kiss warm and gentle. It sent sparks through Dazai and made his body feel alive in the moment his eye falling shut as he returned the kiss, returning the feeling to Chuuya in earnest, he leaned into him closely as he shivered ever so slightly. The other pulled back for breath as he looked at Dazai with a gentle gaze, "I'll show you, but it will be done right," he brushed some hair out of Dazai's face, "I'll show you how it should be, always, none of that bad stuff. This is about you feeling good." the other blushed slightly, "And after?" he asked.

Chuuya considered, he smiled slightly, "You can decide that, I don't mind staying friends with this as just ones who've slept together." he leaned back as he looked at him, "Or, we can be-"

"Lovers?"

Chuuya nodded, "If you-"

Dazai pulled him into another kiss, returning the passion he had felt earlier, almost as if he was attempting to give Chuuya every good feeling he had to give it to him. Chuuya returned it and brushed his fingers through his hair, returning the kiss and returning the feelings.

The crushes they developed over their trip together reached a crescendo and collided here, in a train carriage hiding in a rest stop during a snow storm, they met and collided, met with reconciliation and with great passion they started to fall into one another.

Chapter Text

They pulled apart, Chuuya panted slightly as he looked at the seats, "We should pull one out into a bed." Dazai nodded, "Alright." he took a few steps back as he looked at the seats and watched as Chuuya pulled out the seat and prepared it as a bed, finding a sheet and laying on the bed and the pillows that were available for them. Dazai watched him closely, waiting as slight chills went down his spine, he was actually doing this, he had experienced many things but he didn't quite expect what he was about to experience, he didn't quite mind however, the chills that went down his spine were almost part of the very experience they were going to share together.

He bit his lip as he looked at the bed that Chuuya made, simple white sheets and white pillows, "No blanket?" he teased, saying the word in hopes of ignoring the chills that seemed to constantly go down his spine, Chuuya turned his head around as he looked at him, he narrowed his eyes as he looked at him, "Are you cold?" he asked, it was only then that Dazai noticed that the chills were in fact shivers that went down his entire body, he looked down at himself and shook his head as he smiled slightly lopsidedly, "I am not, I am just nervous is all." Chuuya nodded as he looked at him before he picked up a blanket and looked at him, he moved it around his shoulders, using the blanket to pull him closer to himself.

"Well ain't that new," he smirked, "Snapping your own neck you have no nerves over, but this?" he chuckled as he softened his gaze and placed a hand on his cheek, "It's fine, it's quite normal to be nervous." he pulled him in closer kissing him gently, before he pulled back. "We'll take it slow, take our time." he smiled as he looked up at Dazai, who nodded and smiled softly, "Thank you." he muttered despite himself before he moved his hand down and started to unbutton Chuuya's shirt, slowly exposing his chest.

Pale from lack of sun in the colder months but still nicely toned, while not muscular it was quite pleasant to look at, Dazai trailed his fingers on Chuuya's chest, his cold fingers tracing the lines of his muscles his eye narrowing as he looked at the lines. Chuuya smirked a little as he moved his own fingers to tease off Dazai's shirt as well, both had seen each other in the nude but undressing now felt a little odd and exciting, not like before when they had bathed together in Sausuma and in Banga. This time it wasn't something like simply bathing, it was for something far more intimate and close than simply washing each other or changing bandages.

Dazai gulped softly as he looked at him and leaned in closer to him and kissed him slowly, Chuuya sighed softly and shut his eyes and slowly pushed him onto the bed, carefully pushing him onto the bed where it creaked under their shared weight. They pulled back from the kiss as they looked at one another, Chuuya smiled softly as he moved his way down and started to unbutton his pants and slowly slid them down his thighs taking his boxers with him, Dazai hummed as he looked at him with a slight smirk on his face, "Like what you see?" he chuckled softly as he ignored his own slight shiver at his hard on being seen by someone other than himself.

Chuuya chuckled softly as he kissed Dazai's pale thigh, "Of course." he chuckled lowly as he purred out the words, his voice a low rumble as he looked at slowly kissed up the taller's thigh and up his navel causing a soft moan and whimper escaping him, he nudged his hips as he inadvertently twitched. Chuuya chuckled as he looked at him before he slowly moved his hands to hold his hips in place, "Oh don't do that," he teased, "Let me take care of you~" he leaned down and licked a line up the underside of his erection elicting a whine and gasp from the recipient.

Dazai stared at him as he watched the other man tease his cock with slow licks and kisses, he whined slightly, "I thought Chuuya was going to fuck me!" the words left his lips and were swiftly followed by a strangled moan when Chuuya held onto his dick rubbed him fast, "I am fucking you, I am simply taking my time to make sure you enjoy every second of this~" he chuckled as he ran his tongue over Dazai's slit making him gasp in surprise, "And right now I'm showing you oral sex, so, stay still will you?" he chuckled as he slowly took Dazai into his mouth, his free hand pushing some of his hair back behind his ear.

Dazai gasped as he looked at Chuuya slowly bob his head as he sucked on him like a melting popsicle, licking every bit of skin on him as he bobbed his head up and down, the recipient could only gasp and moan as he moved his hands, gripping the sheets and his own hair as he was struck with pleasure he could hardly handle in the moment, his feet moving inadvertently, Chuuya looked at him and hummed around the cock in his mouth sending vibrations up Dazai's cock and sending sharp electric shocks of pleasure up his spine, "Chuuya!" he cried out as his hands went to his face as he could hardly control the sounds escaping his lips and the many reflexive movements that came from his joints, Chuuya slowly pulled his head up and pressed his tongue flat against the tip of Dazai's cock, teasing the slit.

He shivered under Chuuya as he looked at him and whimpered, Chuuya smiled as he looked at him, "I'll be enjoying this~" he looked and picked up the bottle of lubricant, "I'll take it slow, you haven't had anything up there have you?" he asked as he poured some of the oil onto his fingers, rubbing them together to heat it up, "No I haven't, never been too courageous in that regard." he chuckled softly as he looked up at Chuuya, his admission being breathless and almost chaste in its near shyness. The older only nodded, "Alright, it'll feel a bit awkward and tense at first, it'll pass quick," he moved his fingers and rubbed at the other's hole, making the other gasp as he looked up at him, Chuuya continued to speak, "I'm putting one in." he spoke in a low tone, bordering on a whisper as he spoke the words.

Dazai nodded slowly as he shut his eye as Chuuya slowly nudged in his index finger, his breath hitched as he felt the sensation go through him and gulped as Chuuya rubbed his hip soothingly, watching him closely, taking in every slight twitch and sound, committing it to memory and adjusting his actions accordingly, "How's it so far?" he asked as his eyes narrowed slightly as he looked down at Dazai, who gasped and panted as he looked up at him, "Feels... Really weird." he chuckled slightly, "Don't just keep it still in there! Do something!" his laugh was slightly broken up by his gasps and breathless state.

Chuuya chuckled softly as he pressed his fingers harder against the little numb, “It’s your prostate, feels good?” he questioned, Dazai nodded fast, “Yes!” he sobbed as he looked at Chuuya as tears started to stream down his cheeks, the other looked down at him before he leaned down and kissed his cheek, “Want more of this or do you want to head to the main event?” he asked in a slow low tone, his eyes filled warmth as he took in the figure below him, Dazai’s messy brown hair bloomed around his face framing his head on the white pillows, his bandages disheveled and loose from around him and his skin blushed a bright red over his cheeks, shoulders and chest, his eye glossy as he looked up at Chuuya.

“More…” he whimpered out as he reached his hand and grabbed at Chuuya’s waistband, “I wanna see Chuuya.” he chuckled slightly as the other blushed slightly as he looked down at him, “You ask and you shall receive.” he slowly slipped his fingers out and wiped off the spare oil onto the sheets before he moved to unbuckle his belt, but Dazai got there first, his hands quickly slipping the buckle loose and sliding the belt completely open before he moved to the buttons, the bright eager look in his eye made Chuuya shiver slightly in delight as he watched the other man strip him until Chuuya needed to stand to discard the garments left on his person.

Dazai couldn’t help but salivate at the sight in front of him, his tongue sticking out slightly to lick his lips as he looked at Chuuya’s hard on, “Like what you see?” Chuuya chuckled in a low sultry tone as he made his way over to Dazai, who nodded with a dopey grin on his face, “Very much!” he moved his hands into Chuuya’s hair and started kissing him wildly pulling him over him onto the bed once more, Chuuya returning the attention with equal fervor and passion as he climbed over Dazai between the other’s parted legs, they pulled away gasping slightly for air, Dazai caught his breath before he smirked, “I don’t want any condom, can you do it bare?” Chuuya blinked before he nodded, “I’m clean.” Dazai nodded in return before he kissed Chuuya again, who sighed slightly into the kiss before he moved one of his arms to slowly start parting his legs more, allowing him easier access to where they both wanted him.

Chuuya pulled back as he looked at him, Dazai breathed out as he looked at him, he moved his hand between their legs and lined Chuuya up with him, he smiled lopsidedly as he looked at Chuuya with a hungry eager look. The other nodded as he slowly started to push in, Dazai gasped and his hands found their way into Chuuya’s hair again and he started to tug at them slightly as he screwed his eye shut, Chuuya grit his teeth as he slowly pushed his way in, watching every single reaction that came from Dazai, not paying any mind to how hard the man below him pulled his hair, he slowly pushed the last inch in staying flush against Dazai, who sighed as he threw his head back against the pillows with a sigh.

He looked down at him and slowly brushed his hair back, "Tell me when you're ready." he spoke in a quiet whisper as he gently rubbed his hips, Dazai nodded as he looked up at him, his legs moving to hug around the other's waist. He breathed in deeply as he took in the sensation of fullness, feeling Chuuya inside him so deeply, he panted slightly as he looked at him with a half lidded eye, he moved his head up and started to nuzzle his face into Chuuya's neck, he whined into his skin as he lifted his head just enough to whine into his ear, "Please... Move..."

He nodded, "As you wish." he replied as he slowly grinded into him, slowly thrusting into him, languidly moving his hips as he watched Dazai to make sure he was enjoying it, he was met by the sounds of endless whimpers and moans escaping his lips, he shut his eye and leaned his head back as he enjoyed the slow pleasure coursing through his veins as Chuuya did all of the careful work in bringing that pleasure to him. "Chuuya..." he gasped as he looked at him and smiled, he felt so happy doing this, he adored the closeness and the sensations that went through his entire body and the way he could only seemingly sense Chuuya and nothing else around them? It was like a piece of heaven to Dazai.

Chuuya sighed softly into his ear as he continued to slowly thrust into him, his focus set on one thing, making sure the man below him enjoyed every second of it, he watched Dazai's face carefully for any signs of discomfort, his hand going to his cheek, brushing his thumb under the bandages, Dazai smiled looking almost drunk as he looked at Chuuya's warm and tender expression he moved his arms and legs and held Chuuya tight to himself. He inhaled Chuuya like he was oxygen, he didn't need oxygen anyway, he preferred Chuuya, he smiled as he nuzzled him, Chuuya chuckled slightly as he noticed this.

The two moved naturally in each other's arms and started to feel the growing fuzz and heat in the lower stomach that came with a coming orgasm, he looked down at the other before he kissed him deeply, Dazai moaning in response to it, the two having the pleasure boil over completely and allow them both to fall into their state of bliss.

The two panted as they looked at one another, Dazai smiled as he nuzzled into Chuuya, he smiled as he continued to cuddle into the man, he felt so fond and comfortable in the moment, he didn't even care about having to clean up but he didn't care too strongly about his state of cleanliness, he enjoyed it.

Chapter Text

Dazai opened his eyes the next morning and his attention was captured by his pillow being the bare chest of his travel partner and newly acquired boyfriend, he smiled as he nuzzled into him like an excessively affectionate cat, cuddly and clingy to a fault.

Chuuya slowly opened his eyes as he was roused from his sleep by the action, he smiled slightly as he looked at Dazai and brought his hand to his head and started to comb his fingers through the shaggy brown locks, the act caused the man to peek at Chuuya, "You're awake." he hummed out the words, hardly heard, the man only nodded, "So are you." he spoke as he casually brushed some hair out of Dazai's face, he smiled as he looked at him with a fondness.

The other chuckled lightly before he looked at him silently, he got curious and tilted his head, "Are we going to take a train down the mountain?" he paused and considered what he would say, "No. It'll leave more of a paper trail." Dazai hummed as he looked at him, "Well then what are other options? I doubt you can hike down the mountain in winter anyway." he rested his chin on his sternum, Chuuya chuckled lightly as he thought about it, "Well I can't deny that, we can't hike down when I can actually die of hypothermia, regardless the tent wouldn't withstand this harsh winter." he leaned his head back against the pillow behind his head, he looked at the ceiling of the carriage as he traced routes in his head, figuring out the best path in any situation was part of his education, basic and further education, it was deemed important for him to know and now he was very grateful that he had that knowledge.

He looked at his bag and found the map, he started to trace the pathways on the map, the various paths to travel down from Kristi's capital, Šaltinis, he hummed as he looked at the paths, there were 3 that went down to the bottom to the mountain in various directions, one went down to Novoselic, another returned them to Juosmuo, and the last lead to Skalda, Dazai peeked at it and the paths, "We've got only one way down to make it somewhere where we want to be huh?" Chuuya looked at Dazai before he nodded, "Unless you want to go back to Novoselic and waste all our efforts?" he asked as he looked at him, Dazai huffed as he looked at him, "Like hell am I gonna do that!"

Chuuya chuckled slightly as he looked at the map again, "The route to Skalda is west ward, it has a few options," he narrowed his eyes as he looked at the options they had in winter, Dazai looked at him and leaned his head over as he looked at him, "There's only one option in terms of transit isn't it?" he asked, he nodded as he looked back at him, "Carriage." Dazai blinked as he looked at him curious as he noted the annoyed the look Chuuya had looking at the map, "It's not great is it?" he sighed, "Most carriages are private and those that are for rent are very expensive," he rubbed his eyes with his fingers, "Like 10 gold a kilometre?" Dazai offered, Chuuya looked at him, "30 a kilometre." the man stared at him in surprise and blinked before he sighed as he looked at him.

Dazai thought back to the amount that Oda's mother had given them, he cringed as he thought of it, "And how much to just straight up buy a carriage outright?" Chuuya shook his head and sighed, "That's 130 gold." Dazai considered it, "How many kilometres do we travel down the mountain?" Chuuya leaned his head back, "The capital is at an elavation of 8 kilometres." he spoke aloud before he sighed, "A lot of the paths down are longer than that for safety purposes, the trip would extend to 13 or 20 kilometres, at that we'd have to be slow and careful, the trip would last us somewhere between two days to two weeks." Dazai was silent as he considered it.

"So it'd be cheaper just to buy a carriage to use or is there something else we can do?" Chuuya considered it, "It would be cheaper to buy one, regardless we can't afford to rent." he rubbed his eyes as he looked at the ceiling, Dazai looked at the map and was silent as he read it, "The season isn't in our favor either, we'll end up as popsicles or down a cliff." Chuuya nodded, "Well, we got to be careful, either way we'll end up with a huge dent in our money." he spoke in a very exasperated tone, Dazai only nodded as he looked at him, he moved slightly as he curled up to Chuuya more, "I don't mind eating less, I don't feel hunger pains all that much." Chuuya poked his cheek, "And if you ate any less I'd be feeling like a complete asshole." Dazai chuckled softly.

"You're too noble Chuuya," he rolled his eyes as he looked aside, "Of course, it is a simple fact of those of my country men," he sighed, "It's in our nature to act this way, or nurture, who cares, we're all similar in this way." he lifted his head as he looked at him, he was silent for a moment before he hummed, "What's Kalnas like?" he asked as he rested his head on his shoulder, "Tell me about it." Chuuya looked at Dazai and smiled softly, he enjoyed the opportunity to change the subject and change to something he had started to yearn for for some time, he had grown homesick seeing all the other regions along side Dazai and even thinking of his childhood.

"It's a lovely place, rolling hills and trees that blossom year round," he smiled as the memories returned to him, "My family lives on the centre of the mountains, the one you can easily get to by train," he sighed softly as he looked at Dazai with a smile on his face, "My family lived at the edge of one end at that, all of us in the same household," Dazai blinked, "In the same one?" he nodded and smiled as he looked back at him, "Yup, there's my brother Paul and his husband Arthur," Dazai blinked and before he could ask Chuuya only continued, "Then there is my sister Kouyou, and then there's Kyouka, my youngest sister." Dazai blinked as he stared at Chuuya, "That's a big family!" he gasped as he looked at him, Chuuya nodded, "Bigger than average that's for sure, though I am also missing something most have." Dazai tilted his head, the silent prompt getting Chuuya to answer.

"Parents." he clarified before he sighed, "Me and my siblings all have the same mother but not the same father," he hummed as he thought back to his household, "I never really cared but it did feel odd for others that I didn't have parents unlike most of my peers," Dazai nodded as he stayed stayed where he was beside him curled up close, "I guess that makes two of us." Chuuya nodded and smiled, "Yeah, that makes two of us." he chuckled and nuzzled his face into Dazai's, he smiled as he looked at him with great fondness.

The two laid together, Chuuya brushed his fingers over Dazai's face, pushing the bandages aside and revealed the other's unbound face, he smiled as he looked at him before he moved forward and kissed the scarred more disfigured part of his face, Dazai hummed as he looked at him, the man chuckled a little as he looked at him, "Y'know, I used to always say I wanted a cool partner with all sorts of scars," he smirked as he looked at Dazai who started to laugh as he grinned at him, "Well I guess you got what you wanted now didn't you?!" he laughed as he grinned at him. Chuuya nodded, "Yeah, I sure did." he smiled as he kissed his face with great detail.

The two laughed as they relaxed next to one another in the carriage as the train started to slowly climb once again.

Chapter Text

Mori slowly walked through the streets as the snow fell in thick flakes, the snow crunching under foot as he continued to slowly walk forward, he looked sharp as he narrowed his eyes and continued forward.

Osamu. Where have you disappeared off to? Who was it that you have run away with?

He hissed out a puff of white air into the dark light of the night streets, some walked around finishing up some holiday preparations or to make it back from work, early December was cold, especially at night, but Mori paid that no mind, he simply walked forward, ignoring everyone, he looked around as he tried to find any traces of the man he had raised, so far there was nothing, his eyes narrowed and he batted away the frost on his lashes.

He walked down the stone paved streets, he stride being unhurried but at the same time not immensely lax, his natural pace as he looked around, his eyes scanned the planes in front of him as if he was a predator, before he makes his way to the train station, the station desk was only staffed by one person who sat hardly awake, falling asleep at the desk and not paying any mind to those around them. Mori was silent as he looked at them, he slowly walked over to the desk, walking around and taking the logbook, unnoticed by the sleeping attendant. He flipped through the pages of recent days until he caught Dazai and Chuuya's name on the page and their destination.

"So that's where you ran off to Osamu..."

He shut the book and placed it back into its place before he left, as the doors shut the attendant perked up and blinked as they awoke and looked around before they sighed, "Gosh. Why am I still here?" they sighed and rubbed their eyes.

Mori only walked down the streets before he made it to a man tending to a horse, he smiled as he looked at him, "Excuse me, are you going to Skalda?" the man nodded, "Yes?" Mori offered some gold in his hand, "May you take me along?" the man shrugged, "Sure." he accepted and the doctor only nodded.

"Thank you very much."

Chapter Text

Dazai yawned as he stretched as he looked over at Chuuya was was busy braiding his hair, he looked at him and chuckled softly, "Hey why don't I do it?" he offered as he tilted his head, his arms drapped around Chuuya's shoulders, "Another time, right now we need to be leaving so we'll have to keep that for another day," he tapped Dazai's nose, making him twitch his nose like a rabbit, he snickered a little as he looked at him before he smiled as he looked at him.

"Well alright but I'm definitely gonna do it one day or another!" he laughed out of the window and the nearing scenery of the capital, Šaltinis, the buildings poking out from where they were in the cloak of snow with some people shoveling snow to make sure the buildings weren't crushed by the weight of the snow and ice that built up year round, most being in multiple layers of clothes like layers of skin on an animal, Dazai silently wondered if he should be wearing more layers before Chuuya spoke, "Samu?" he offered the other looked over at him and blinked before he grew giddy like a puppy offered a treat.

"Yes Chibi?" he smiled as he placed his chin on his head, Chuuya nodded as he finished braiding his hair, "Get ahold of the bags so we can hop off." Dazai nodded as he picked up the bags, he moved the backpack onto his shoulders and a chest handle in each hand, his body swaying slightly at the wait, "Huh? How did you manage to carry these so easily for so long Chuuya?!" he stared at him as he recentered his balance, Chuuya chuckled slightly, "I think I may just be stronger than you." he spoke the words with a bit of a smirk.

The two made their way out of the carriage and out to the station, the cold air was dry and a bit prickly against their skin, it nipping at their skin and starting to turn it a shade pinker, Chuuya huffed as he walked over to the map that stood by the doors of the station which seemed to be almost perpetually opened by the people coming and going almost constantly, Dazai's eyes followed all the people coming and going, his eyes watching the many people that walked in and out as Chuuya traced his fingers along the map, "Nearest business selling and renting carriages is 20 minutes west." Dazai looked over and leaned his head on his shoulder as he looked at the map too, "It seems pretty long walk for something so close on the map." Chuuya chuckled dryly.

"It's accounting for us having to walk slowly so we don't slip and die." Dazai blinked as he looked at him, "You sure?" he asked, Chuuya looked at him with a smirk, "Well obviously you can't die but you will break a handful of bones and we don't have the time to set them over and over again because you want to slip down the stairs." the taller snickered a little, "Alright then, 20 minutes of walking." he chuckled out, the two started to make their way into the freezing cold of the outside world, Dazai shivered and trembled, "Good lord!" Chuuya nodded as he shivered, his cheeks going even redder at the wind biting at his face and eyes.

The two walked, the snow crunching under their feet, snow starting to float around them, the space looking like a room recently opened after being left alone to gather dust for so long, the sky an obsidian black shade, the street lamps alight in a golden light that made it possible to see more than a few steps ahead with any clarity, at least anything not coated in a layer of snow deep enough to since down to the ankle or more. The two navigated their way to a set of stairs and looked ahead, the snow creating a sheen and fog ahead of them. Chuuya sighed out a white puff of air as he looked ahead of them, "We need to head down to that building." he pointed before he looked where Dazai was supposed to be beside him.

To find that the man had fallen down the stairs when Chuuya wasn't looking.

"Osamu!"

It was a few minutes before the other man was having his bones set back in place, a pout on his face, "Ow." Chuuya sighed as he popped Dazai's shoulder back into it's socket, "I did warn you didn't I?" Dazai pouted as he looked at him with a slight wince as he was cracked back into place, "Ugh. Yeah I know I know." he sighed as he eventually was able to try standing again before Chuuya instead threw him piggyback into his hold and he continued to walk forward despite the added wait on him, Dazai blushed as he looked at him with a slight smile on his face before he wrapped his arms tightly around his neck and shut his eye as the ginger carried him to their location.

Chuuya put Dazai down on a spot on a nearby bench where a set of sisters were tending to horses and their dogs, both being large and furry, appearing to have far more hair than anyone could reasonably guess. The horses being a shade of brown with a layer of thick blubber that protected them from the cold, the dogs being large in a similar way but at the same time standing tall like wolves that seemed to be on their highest alert, prepared to run and pounce to kill whatever their master pointed them to, one of the sisters being a navy haired woman standing tall, in her mittened hand being a brush that she used to brush the mane of one of the smaller horses, the other having wine red hair instead and her attention set to looking at the carriages that were around for them.

Both were dressed in many layers, thick furs and cloth to protect from the blistering cold, Chuuya walked over to them and spoke, "Excuse me? Is this the carriage rental?" the older nodded, "Yes this is, how may we help you?" Chuuya hummed as he absentmindedly rubbed his hands to heat them up from his gloves, "Can I buy a carriage and then resell it once we reach the bottom?" the shorter of the sisters blinked as they stared at him, she perked up, "Oh you can't afford the rental price?" she asked as she tilted her head and walked closer to him, he nodded, "Yes, so that available?" the girl nodded, "Yeah it is! A friend of mine runs one of these at the bottom so it'll be easy to do!" Chuuya smiled, "Thank you, so how much?" the older spoke bluntly, "120 gold, upon return you will only get 60."

Chuuya considered it before he sighed, "Better than nothing, I'll be right back to get the money." he said as he returned to Dazai's side, the man already counting the coins that the two were to pay for their carriage down to the bottom. Chuuya smiled and permitted him to finish as he found a pouch for the coins, once counted and placed into the bag, the older of the two made his way over to the other pair, once the gold was exchanged the two acquired their carriage.

"Don't worry! Our girl Nala will take good care of you on your way down, just tell her which path and she'll take it!" the red headed sister grinned, Chuuya nodded, "I see, thank you," he looked at the horse, who faced forward but the eye peeked at him as he spoke, "Skalda pathway." the horse stomped her hoof as Dazai climbed into the carriage and Chuuya joined him as well inside the deep blue and silver carriage, it was a simple one built to hold in any and all heat inside it, the interior padded by velvet and wool, it being nice and soft, there being two windows, small and quickly fogged up. Chuuya sat down and the carriage started to move as soon as the door was shut and latched, Chuuya sighed as the warmth entered his body, Dazai looked at him before he laid down his head on his lover's lap, the other looked down at him before he started to pet him and enjoy the comfortable silence.

Chapter Text

Mori was about 34 when he had come to Novoselic, a secret hidden shamelessly in his trunk like some sort of contriband, but he needn't dare admit what he had hidden there, he walked down the shimmering stone streets and brought in his things into his new apartment on the ground floor of a bigger complex, he paid his neighbours only a passing nod and that was all he planned to do for some time.

He made his way down the steps and down over to the lake he had seen earlier, his attention caught by a group of many residents armed with nets pulling in whatever was at the bottom of the deep lake. Mori walked over to one of the bystanders and shyly asked, "What is going on?" the woman he asked sighed tiredly, as if she hadn't slept in days, she was dressed in a nightgown with a coat over top of it, "A boy went swimming and didn't realise his limits and sunk to the bottom." Mori flinched as he looked over to the lake again and the many nets, suddenly the scene not seeming as odd as before.

He stared at the water his attention caught by the many nets and the fish many people tossed out to empty the nets before someone yelled out in a booming thunder crack of a voice.

"Found him!"

Mori peeked around many of the other bystanders as he watched and saw the limp body they pulled out of the dark waters of the lake, he felt his heart ache slightly at the small body of a boy no older that 11 or 12, that was until he noticed the boy wake up with a coughing start before he was yelling, "Why'd you wake me up?! I was just fine!" he shrieked and whined like a child that had been told it was time to put away his toys and get ready for bed. Mori's eyed widened as he watched as the boy seemed to be so lively despite being underwater for who knows how long, He was sleeping down there?

The many people there sighed in both relief and annoyance, several started to make their way out of the audience and instead started to grumble and complain.

"Always that boy."

"I swear why does he always want to die so badly?"

"At this point you'd think that everyone knew that boy does it on purpose for attention."

"At this point why do we even bother?"

Mori was silent as he watched the rescue party return to shore and toss the boy onto dry land as he huffed and whined, "Come on!" he whined as the others left him behind, Mori was the only one who stayed behind and walked over to him, "Are you alright young man?" he asked as he looked down at him, his eyes widened as he saw the state of his face, his oddly sunken and jutted in on the left side revealed from where the likes of it looked like the boy fell face first down onto a spike all the way through his left eye and just barely not through the back of his skull.

The boy pouted as he looked at Mori's stunned face, "And who are you? What's with the staring?" he asked as he stood himself off and brushed off the sand that was clinging to his wet clothes, Mori cleared his throat, "I am Ougai Mori, and you are?" the boy huffed as he looked at him with a narrow gaze from his only working eye, "Osamu Dazai." he said with a bit of a annoyed huff, Mori smiled and offered a hand to him, Perhaps this young man has the answer to what I seek...

"How about you come stay with me? I'm sure it's more comfortable than anything out here." Dazai looked at his offered hand before he shrugged and accepted it, "Sure, got nothing better to do." Mori smiled as he shook his hand and lead him back to his apartment.

Don't worry Elise, I am one step closer to bringing you back, I'll fix my mistake.

The two walked side by side and Mori couldn't help but curiously ask, "So, how exactly did you manage to sleep at the bottom of that lake? I thought anyone who tried would drown eventually." Dazai huffed and looked away, his shirt clinging to his body as it dripped green tinted water onto the stone pathway of the Novoselic streets, "I'm cursed." the doctor tilted his head, "Cursed to...?" the boy puffed up his cheeks in annoyance, "Cursed to be unable to die! Can you believe it?!" Mori stared at him in awe before he shook his head, barely, the nod more like a slight unconscious nod, "At all?" he asked the sound shocked and confused as he stared at Dazai who nodded as he straightened out his back to appear taller.

"Yup! Pick a method and I've tried it at least twice!" he rolled his eyes as he looked back at Mori, "I can't die no matter what I try, but I don't want to live!" the doctor narrowed his eyes and sighed softly, "Quite the problem you have there..." he spoke the words out almost inaudibly but Dazai was able to pick it up and nodded, "Exactly!" he huffed as he looked forward, "So what do you do besides snatching kids?" Mori chuckled weakly as he looked at Dazai, "Don't just call me a child snatcher please, I really don't mean any harm." the boy ignored the statement and continued, "Do you have a job or do you just go around grabbing kids off the street and put them in a pot for dinner?" Mori deflated more at the statements but still smiled.

"I'm actually a doctor, I specialise in treating curses." this made the other perk up and look his way again, Mori smiled, "I can try helping you find a cure, I'll just need to do a lot of research, but once it's done you'll be curse free and able to do as you wish." Dazai grinned, "Seriously?! You promise?!" Mori smiled at him.

"Of course."