As Takoizu waited for Seki to return, she had already dressed herself in a turquoise bikini with a snap of her finger and was now staring at the ocean beyond, watching not the people playing and swimming in the water, but the passing waves in the distance, thinking to herself about this trip that she had taken Seki on, as well as the moments that led up to this moment. The memory was still freshly burned into her mind, as not even more than two days had passed since the incident, the day Kronos had invaded Seki's dimension and killed Takoizu...
Spoiler
...It had been more than a few hours since Takoizu had been injured so greivously that she had to regenerate and attempt to build her power, but when she was ready to face Kronos again, Takoizu emerged from her gap and held out her hands, ready to cast deadly proto-danmaku into Kronos.
Takoizu came back to a rather broken room. the tears in space from before had been taken care of, but the roof had fallen in on them, leaving wood and other materials scattered around the room. Dust and dirt covered much of the fallen structure.
If Takoizu looked passed the gap in the wall she would have seen an army of undead that was simply, cheering, celebrating their victory over the invaders. the statues Takoizu had seen before, apart from the unfinished one of herself had been moved not too far from the mansion and how laid in several large but intact pieces.
In the distance Was Seki's dragon which was sitting next to a rather large space ship that hadn't' been their before. The ship was rather far away, but if Takoizu looked close enough she would notice some similarities between what the ship was made out of and the new metal body her once bone dragon had.
Seki however hadn't moved from the spot she was last in when Takoizu left her. In fact she couldn't' move. the seals on the ground held her in place and prevented her from moving until someone found her and set her free.
She was sitting in the fetal position, hugging her knees with her arms and hiding her face behind her knees. the sound of blood dripping into a puddle could be heard as every few second another drip would drop off he torso and into the slowly growing puddle below her. Her current position made it difficult to see where and how badly she was injured.
Takoizu was quite shocked to see the aftermath of the battle, especially since neither she nor Seki took any part in it. However, that did not mean all was well. From what Takoizu could see and hear, there was blood on the floor beneath Seki, and when she listened closely enough she could the barely audible whispers of the wind, and the dripping of blood. Takoizu's eyes widened with worry when she saw the blood and thought that Kronos had done something to her. If that false god did anything to her, Takoizu was going to chase him down and kill him. With fear powering her movements, Takoizu quickly walked over to the circle that Seki was sealed behind.
"Seki? Seki, are you alright? What happened?", Takoizu asked, the worry in her voice very clear.
The vampire sat still. Even after hearing the voice of her thought to be dead master, she didn't move for several moments. Eventually though she lifted her head up. It finally sank into her head that someone was speaking to her. Seki crossed her legs and sat Indian style in front of her master, but she wasn't' in the best shape. There was blood all over her face and she kept her eyes shut tight, presumably to keep the blood out of them. There were claw marks on her neck and bare chest that looked as though someone had been trying to dig their claws into her flesh. Exposed pink muscle as well as other important parts of her insides could be seen from these gashes. Her right arm was bleeding as well with bite marks on her wrist and forearm.
But if Tajkoizu looked closely, she would have noticed small details. Such as the fang marks on her arm that were just far apart and at just the right size to match Seki's or the individual claw marks that matched with Seki's own finger nails, the places where she was scratched and from what angle. If she just took it at face value it would have been easy to blame her injuries on Kronos, but if she looked closely she would see the truth. "...Master?" spoke a weak and defeated Seki.
It took a brief moment to fully register just what exactly she was seeing, but soon her worry was replaced with horror as her heart sank. The sight she laid witness to froze Takoizu in place as she tried to process what had happened to the little vampire. Such a sight nearly made the half-Youkai sick as she observed the injuries. Although she had seen worse injuries before, just the mere fact that they were on someone she cared about shook her to her core. It took for what felt like forever to speak, but once Takoizu found the strength to do so, she quickly slipped her armored hands through the seal and placed them on Seki's cheeks, seemingly immune to the seal placed on the ground.
"Seki!- Seki, what happened-- what happened to you!?", Takoizu asked almost in a panicked state. Takoizu was close to tears from seeing Seki so horribly maimed, but she needed to know.
The small vampire waited for what felt like forever for a response from the voice she had heard before. But hearing her master's distressed voice and feeling the familiar touch of the very armor that urned to dust before her very eyes.
It's not that Seki wasn't' grateful, relieved to know that her master was alive, but her heart filled with so many conflicting emotions that all she could do was cry. While there weren't any tears leaking from her closed eyes, the pace of her breath and how she spoke were a dead give away.
In a quite voice she meekly spoke "It's all my fault. I'm sorry master. I hurt you. I deserve this. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." she kept repeating these words over an over, unable to say anything more. the guilt she felt in her heart over her master's death consumed her.
Takoizu looked on in shock as Seki repeated what she had said over and over, the tears welling up on her armored face as memories of what happened earlier began to surface. Takoizu remembered how she was brutally beaten, pinned to the floor, had her armor stripped away, had been dismembered, then was killed by being impaled while being burned away with acid. All this, and Seki blamed herself for it? It was in this moment when Takoizu removed her helmet and dropped it to the floor before embracing the little vampire in her arms, taking care not to injure Seki further. Tears began to slowly roll down Takoizu's face as she attempted to suppress what she felt, but it did little. After a few seconds, Takoizu began to speak, though her words shook with sorrow.
"Seki, listen to me. It is not your fault. You couldn't have known what could have happened, neither of us could so don't say such things."
"YES IT IS!" the vampire shouted in protest, straining her weak voice to do so. "If i wasn't for me he wouldn't be this strong, you would have killed Flowy and he wouldn't have been able to use her to get here. If i hadn't summoned you, you wouldn't have come to save me and if I hadn't forced the souls inside you..I...I'm a terrible familiar. you deserve better. I'm such an idiot. Why did I think anyone could ever love me? I don't deserve it, I never will. I can nerve atone for what I've done Who could ever love such an ugly monster? I should have let you kill me in our fight."
Seki finally returned her master's hug, clinging to her as tightly as her weak little body could. Despite everything, it was clear she still wanted to be with her master"I'm so sorry... please leave me behind. take the child and leave but don't worry about me. I'm not worth saving."
Takoizu firmly hugged Seki as she spoke, and once she had stopped, Takoizu pulled away to look at the girl who had told her to abondon her. She could see the injuries still present on her body, the things she did to herself. It hurt Takoizu to see Seki so crippled, so defeated. Despite all that, Takoizu took a soft, deep breath before altering the boundary of alteration and restoration, healing Seki of all her wounds. After that, Takoizu placed both of her hands on the vampire's shoulders and began to speak. It didn't matter how she felt right now, whether she felt she would be able to speak or not. Right now, Seki needed her, perhaps now more than ever.
"Seki, I am not going to do that, not without you. Whether you believe it or not, I think that you are worth saving. I don't even care what had happened earlier because we could not have accounted for it. You tried to help me, and even if you think it is all your fault, I would forgive you anyway. What you've done before does not even factor into what happened here, because in the end, I still forgive you and care about your well-being. Deep down, you want to redeem yourself, and because of that, I am not going to give up on you."
The tiny vampire's wounds started to heal, finally allowing her to open her eyes. Tears started to flow down her face, cleaning some of the dried blood from her cheeks. Despite everything that had happened, her master somehow still cared about her. She held to Takoizu as tightly as she could and lightly sobbed into her armor clad shoulder.
Her master had just died in front of her, and yet her she was trying to make Seki feel better. Seki would have done anything to prevent that from happening but now that her master was safe, all she could do was sob and beat herself up. Even if she didn't' admit it, Seki knew that her actions, her current actions were hurting Takoizu.
Seki should have been the one comforting her, but instead she was holding her back even further by being so pathetic. Seki knew the youkai well enough to know how stubborn she could be, and she knew that Takoizu wouldn't give up on Seki until the situation broke her will power, and even then she might not give up.
Seki didn't want that for her master, she didn't want want her to suffer any more than she already had. so for her sake, she tried to do better. "I'm sorry master. I should be the one comforting you. But I just..." as hard as she tried the vampire couldn't' hold back her tears, she cried through the rest of her words like a child. "I thought I had lost you forever. I don't know how you did it b-but I'm so glad you're okay. You're the only one who makes my life worth living and I just, I don't know what I would do without you master."
She paused for a moment, just sobbing into her master's shoulder. What she said next was barely even understandable as she mumbled through her tears. "Even if I'm bad can I stay with you? I promise I'll do better, I'll make you proud of me."
Takoizu hugged the little vampire girl close to her as she listened to her, quietly taking in what she had said. Takoizu was no longer tearful, now that she knew Seki was going to be safe. To be honest, she was just relieved that Seki was alive, and as long as Seki tried to pick herself up from this mess and redeem herself, Takoizu would too...
Takoizu let out a faint sigh as she thought about how Seki had beaten herself up over the incident, both mentally and physically. Even now, it was apparent to the half-youkai that Seki did not want to be here, but wanted to at least try for Takoizu's sake. To be honest, Takoizu was very happy and relieved that Seki had seemingly taken the whole situation well, but she still worried for the little vampire. Despite all that power, all those years she had lived, Seki still seemed to have that childlike need for comfort, for that feeling of being looked after. That, and there was no telling what the future held for Seki now. She had endured much pain and had killed a lot of people, and Takoizu could tell that the guilt was almost too much to hold on her shoulders. Despite her resilience, her psyche was still fragile, meaning that Takoizu would have to keep an eye on her, at least until she was sure that Seki had put the past behind her.
In the meantime, the only thing Takoizu could do was wait
