"Saru, let's go back." Misaki is all but pleading with him now, his eyes wide and bright as he looks at Saruhiko.

Saruhiko quietly cackles, the sound becoming swallowed in the darkness of the abandoned warehouse they are in. "What are you saying Misaki? Where are we supposed to return back to?"

"To HOMRA, of course!" To our home, goes unsaid but it's obvious in the warm tone Misaki always talks in about HOMRA. It's only been a year but it feels like fifty to Fushimi who feels like an ocean of time now separates him and Misaki.

Before they had joined HOMRA, before they had been saved by the Red King, it had only been Misaki and him. They had only needed each other to rely on: against their detached and uncaring parents, against their classmates and teachers who ostracized them, against the entire world that had wanted nothing more than to see them die on the streets in the hidden alleyways within the city that would never see the light of day. And that had been fine with them. They survived and fought against the world every day, never giving up and needing only each other.

For Saruhiko, that was all he needed. He only needed Misaki by his side and his alone. A normal person would have found his dependence on Misaki unhealthy but Saruhiko had never been normal. Plus, he had never cared for the opinions of others. Only Misaki's opinion had mattered.

But then came Suoh Mikoto and with him, HOMRA.

Misaki, the only person Saruhiko had ever needed in the world, began to stray from his side. He began to talk with other people, open up to them and spend time with them. He began to spend less with Saruhiko and that was when things began to go downhill for Saruhiko.

That's why he had to do this. He had to leave HOMRA and take Misaki away with him. They could go back to how they were before, just the two of them together. And this time, Saruhiko wouldn't make the same mistake; he would be stronger than he ever was in the past, stronger than even the Kings so they wouldn't need to be saved anymore. Not by Suoh Mikoto, not by anyone.

What Saruhiko failed to realize was that Misaki had already changed too much to go back with him. Misaki had always yearned for affection, for bonds and, most of all, a family-something HOMRA had given him and Saruhiko could not replicate.

That didn't stop Saruhiko from trying to take Misaki away anyways.

"No."

"What are you saying Saru? Where are you thinking of going?"

"We," Fushimi corrects. "Where we are going."

Misaki, innocent and oblivious Misaki who had yet to grasp the gravity of the situation, did the worst possible thing imaginable at that moment.

He scowled at Saruhiko. "Hell no. I don't know what crazy thing you're thinking of but I ain't going along with it. Go alone, stupid monkey."

Go alone.

Those words were like a slap to Saruhiko. He knew Misaki was naturally brash and his words harsher than he meant them to be, he knew because he has known Misaki the longest and understands this better than anyone but right now he doesn't know. He doesn't think of anything except of how Misaki is leaving him.

Red covers his vision as he tackles Misaki, the shorter male letting out a surprised yell as they fall onto the cold warehouse floor. Saruhiko pins Misaki down and other struggles, yelling and cursing.

"What the fuck Saruhiko?" Misaki practically spits out. "Don't just tackle someone like that out of the blue."

It's only when he looks up at Saruhiko's face that the seriousness of the situation falls on Misaki and that's when he realizes something is very, very wrong.

He has never seen Saruhiko's face so expressionless, so void of any feeling. Not even boredom was present in the eyes that Misaki finds himself looking into and that scares Misaki. Saruhiko looks empty. Soulless.

Then upon that empty face, a smile begins to blossom. It is dark and mad and it terrifies Misaki to the very core of his being. It makes him want to run somewhere far away, to a place that smile cannot reach him.

"Mi. Sa. Kiiiiii." The person wearing Saruhiko's face with that empty smile speaks his name like he is crooning a lullaby and it only intensifies Misaki's fear. He wants to cry, to say something but there is a lump in his throat that chokes him and stifles his words.

"Misaki can't leave me," Saruhiko says as one of his hands holds down Misaki's two wrists while his other hand pulls down the top of Misaki's shirt to reveal his HOMRA mark. "Even if it's Misaki who says to go alone, I won't. Misaki has to go with me."

Misaki says nothing. He can feel his body shaking, fear overcoming all other senses and making him unable to even think about summoning up his flames and fighting back. Still wearing that empty smile Saruhiko presses his hand down against Misaki's HOMRA mark.

"We'll be together, Mi. Sa. Kiiii."

"S-Saru, w-what are you-"

Saruhiko's hand becomes coated in red flames.

Misaki's screams fill the empty warehouse.

When the deed is done and the skin around Misaki's collar bone smokes and smells of burning flesh, the empty smile leaves Saruhiko's face. He pulls down his own shirt to reveal his own mutilated HOMRA insignia to Misaki's glassy eyes.

"Now we can go back," Saruhiko whispers into Misaki's unhearing ears. "We don't need them Mi. Sa. Kiiii~"

Misaki, so overwhelmed with pain that his brain has shut down, can say nothing in return.

AN: I don't even know