Kou smiled as he saw the entrance to the ruin, a thrill of excitement running up his spine. Despite Vi’s worry, getting through the pass had been easy, and they were lucky to come across a farm on the other side that was close to the next ruin. The family there had been more than willing to offer one of their stalls for the pair and even allowed Aldeon to roam with their horse while Kou and Vi went to the ruin. 

From the notes on the map, this one was underground, but had an opening above ground with steps that led in, and Kou began to pull the demon forward. The book he had gotten from the previous ruin was interesting, but it didn’t seem to say much about Corruption or where it came from. His best guess was that it came from a time long before monsters, and the notes about this next ruin had Kou more hopeful.

“Kou,” Vi pulled back slightly and Kou forced himself to slow down, groaning low in his chest. Nothing had changed since the almost kiss, save Vi seemed a bit more willing to be closer to Kou in general. The demon usually maintained a distance, but they had taken to sitting closer to Kou as he slept or read, but he didn’t know if it was because of what he said or if they were simply trying to ensure his safety. Even now, hand holding barely felt like enough and Kou was getting more and more frustrated. 

Like always. 

“I can see the steps. The opening is pretty big,” Kou described, his fingers tightening slightly around Vi’s hand as he led them forward. “It doesn’t look caved in or anything, just a little overgrown. The stone’s all still there.”

Vi made a low sound in their throat, and Kou shook his head. He knew Vi was hesitant around ruins, but it didn’t change that his answers would only be found in them. No one in the Second World knew the truth and almost no one cared enough to try and find it, content to keep pretending the Rules worked. No; the only way he’d find out where Corruption came from was to keep looking in the bones of the First World. 

And he was definitely not going to give that up for a demon who wouldn’t even touch him. 

They reached the steps and Kou grinned as he looked down into the darkness. He raised his hand to create the small light, his heart pounding with excitement. “Alright, the stairs don’t look too steep, so they should be simple to walk down.”

“Alright,” was Vi’s simple reply and tightening his grip, Kou stepped forward, the small ball of light hovering above his free hand. He couldn’t quite tell how long the steps were, as his light only reached so far, but each step was intact; worn but stable enough to feel safe. The stone walls narrowed as they descended, the passage slowly swallowing sound until all that remained was the echo of their footsteps and the low of the wind at the ruin's entrance behind them.

Kou was tempted to fill the silence with words like he usually did, but instead he chewed on his lip, unable to help his thoughts from churning. It wasn’t fair; he and Vi had been together for more than two months now, but the space between them seemed just as large as ever. If anything, the farm and leaving his home had only made everything worse; Vi was so obsessed with his safety that it made Kou want to scream. He knew it was part of just how demons were, after all they were the guardians of a human’s well-being, but Kou was tired of just being kept safe. 

It was a perk, sure, Kou didn’t have a death wish, but it wasn’t why he wanted Vi. Wasn’t why he blackmailed the demon and it wasn’t why he wanted a demon around.

“The last step is missing,” Vi’s voice pulled Kou from his steps and he glanced down, holding his light up to try and see more. He still couldn’t see the end.

“We’re not near the bottom.”

“The echo is different lower down. The step is missing.”

“Alright, I’ll deal with it when we get there,” Kou shrugged, not trying to hide his annoyance as they continued their descent. He was sick of every pause turning into a warning, every hesitation from Vi twisting like a wire around his ribs. He knew the ruins were dangerous. He knew his body was fragile compared to Vi’s, but that didn’t mean he wanted to be treated like he’d shatter from the wrong step.

The air grew heavier the deeper they went, until Kou finally saw the place where the last step should have been. As he expected, it wasn’t that big of a deal, and he simply hopped down the step, feeling as Vizisco glided down next to him. Kou took a moment to extinguish his light, taking a deep breath before he summoned it again. His magic only lasted two hours at most, and he didn’t want to risk the light going out before he got to look around properly.  

Kou made as if to pull his hand from Vi’s and groaned when he felt the demon tighten their hold. Of course they were gonna push this point. Hand holding, but never actually holding. Proximity, but never touching. 

“The space is… large,” Vi muttered and Kou glanced around, holding up his light. The ceiling seemed far above them, and he could barely make out the shapes of distant walls. Large was an understatement. “It is another ‘church’?”

“No, it doesn’t look like one. The walls are solid,” Kou explained, deciding to just follow one of the walls until they found something interesting. “The room seems empty, but my magic is not big enough to illuminate the space.”

“Hmm,” Vi made a noise low in their throat and Kou was surprised when he felt Vi release his hand. Before he could ask, however, he turned to see Vi’s hand in front of their face, a much larger sphere of light forming between their fingertips. Kou stared in surprised, quickly dismissing his own; of course the demon would have a higher Ability too. “Will this do?”

“Way better than mine.” Kou scoffed, retaking Vi’s hand as the demon held up the light for him. He could see remnants of furniture that was smashed, broken and rotten all over the floor, as if it had been torn apart, but Kou decided to keep that detail to himself. “There’s a door across from us, but there’s a lot of debris on the floor.”

“Then walk carefully,” Vi insisted and Kou began to make his way toward the door, his  steps slow and deliberate, boots crunching on splinters and ancient dust. Vi stayed close behind him, their taller figure casting a long shadow in the light of their spell. The glow reflected off the shattered wood and cracked stone, gleaming off metal remnants half-buried in rubble. Whatever had once been here, it had been gutted violently.

Despite the quiet thrill of discovery pulling him forward, Kou couldn’t shake the heat simmering under his skin, growing more stubborn with each measured breath. Vi’s light moved with him, casting elongated shadows that danced against the carved stone. The walls were etched in delicate relief—familiar motifs of Itris and the First World—but Kou barely glanced at them. All his focus stayed fixed on the door and the demon at his side and the restraint was more than unbearable.

At the door, Kou pushed his shoulder into it, and was unsurprised to find the door resistant to opening. There was no lock from what he could see, so he released Vi’s hand, putting more of his weight onto the old and stubborn hinges. 

“Stupid… thing!” Kou exclaimed as he nearly fell forward as the door gave, and the first thing he noticed was the sunlight. Glancing up toward the faraway ceiling revealed a single window, allowing a long, slanted shaft of light to pour into the room like a blessing. Dust stirred at his entry, causing coughed softly, brushing the particles away as he waved Vi in. “There’s light in here, so we don’t need the spell.”

Kou turned his attention back to the room as the demon stepped in, taking in the new space. It wasn’t very large, but Kou could see a series of doors on the other side. Perhaps this room had been something like a waiting space, where people would gather before entering whatever lay beyond. Benches lined the walls, many of them half-rotted, the ends splintered or warped from time and water. Kou stepped forward slowly, eyes drifting over the faint patterns carved into the floor beneath the dust.

“Not sure what this room is either,” Kou shrugged, deciding to head for the middle door. “There are doors on the other side so let’s–”

The rest happened in a blur. 

One moment, Kou was walking toward the light, doing his best to describe the room to Vi, and the next he felt himself being grabbed, and pressed into the demon’s chest as he was spun.

Shunk. Shunk.

“V…Vi?” Kou started to push against the demon holding him, but Vi simply fell to their knees, still tightly holding him against their chest.

Shunk. Shunk. Shunk.

“Don’t move,” Vi muttered, but it was the wet drip onto his face that made Kou freeze.

Blood.