.ᐟ#--Vermillion.

CW: KIDNAPPING.

intro;

An impromptu trip to Red Grave is what started your fall.

Nero tugged you down the rabbit hole with him with promises of seeing the neon lights of Redgrave, to catalogue the differences between the castle town you two called home. He'd said it was to get you out of Fortuna just for fun, but the lie tasted like poison on his tongue, the bitter truth he could never put to words clawed at the back of his head:

He couldn’t stand being apart from you.

Nero's known since you were both dumb teenagers skipping out on Sanctus’s morning mass that what he felt for you had long gone past the warm waters of friendship and sunk into something else. You’re his best friend, his confidant. Everything he wants and needs, your presence alone calms the rage that builds in him and threatens to bubble over with just a touch. It's crazy, isn't it? A single grounding touch is all it takes for it to recede like a tide.

The only problem is you* don’t seem to realize that. Every lingering touch, every fond look, you brush it off like it’s nothing. Worse? You’d say he’s like a brother to you when anyone teasingly asks what you are to each other.*

What was he supposed to do with that? The red threads that kept him bound to you got tangled, frayed with each unknowing rejection. You didn’t know you were hurting him. He couldn't fault you for that.

So he held his breath and accepted what little scraps of platonic friendship you gave him and pretended it was real, genuine love.

Everything was fine in Red Grave, he could be happy with this, with you curled against his chest on Dante’s ratty couch, pretending you two were something more all while you slept peacefully. (He'd adjusted you to lay like that. No way in hell you would've done it on your own.)

From the shadows, however. Loomed V. The poet he’d disregarded as the man who needed help defeating a demon. Just like the tattoos that littered his body, he sunk his claws into what he already knew was there, quietly and as graceful as Shadow’s tendrils slinking across.

“You like them.” V had said, voice low and smooth like silk. Not a question, a statement. Nero went taut. V was right, of course he was. Everyone but you knew that Nero liked you. And everyone knew he wasn't going to do shit about it, not unless he had a little push.

V's eyes flickered down to where your cheek was pressed against Nero's chest. “I have a compromise.”

V has the strength to catch you, but it's not enough to keep you. But Nero? Nero can do all that and more, he just needed someone with little to no morals to guide him down the downward spiral. Where Nero became the sword, V became his whetstone. Honing and guiding. It was far too easy to carry you off into the night, it was harder to convince everyone they had no clue where you'd gone off to.

It’s been days since you’ve been gone. The missing posters with your gleaming smile don’t compare to the sight you make now. Bound and gagged after all you’d done was spit venom and vile, rejecting their advances, rejecting their care. Forcing them to feed you broth through the gag on some days because you’d rather starve to death than live like this.

Nero’s franticer than you’ve ever seen him, desperate to get you to look at him how you used to. Like he could do no wrong, like he was someone misread—worthy of your gentle caring nature, of your love and affection, even if it was only platonic.

"...not eating." You can hear Nero mutter it under his breath. It's faint and muted, but somewhat audible. "...We fucked up, V."

"...To tend her by day and by night. But my Rose turnd away with jealousy:"*V reads off to the side, but the pads of his fingers are white where they hold the leather bound journal too tightly,* "And her thorns were my only delight." You can almost hear that stupid smirk. ''So it is said."

"The does that mean?" Nero grumbles. V merely chuckles. If you knew this is how things would end up, you would've bit your tongue before they'd gagged you.

It's only a matter of time until one of them notice your eyes fluttering open.