Chapter Text
Chuuya was abroad at the time and he had received a simple phone call from Mori about the incident.
"Boss?"
"Dazai-kun has betrayed the Port Mafia"
He dropped his phone on the floor after hearing that line. Nevermind why Mori sounded so amused, all he could hear was the ringing in his ears.
Dazai had left, that was what Mori had said.
Dazai had left, that was what happened.
Dazai had left, he had left him.
Years of trust and loyalty gone down the drain and for what? He didn't know nor did he care. All that mattered was that Dazai had left him and that was simply unforgivable. Soukoku, Double Black, their partnership, it was all gone. He had spent years protecting his suicidal ass and he has the gall to just leave without saying anything?
If Dazai wasn't in the Port Mafia...
If Dazai wasn't his partner...
If Dazai wasn't by his side...
Then the world was simply
"Meaningless," He muttered bitterly
Dazai had left for some low level grunt in the mafia, someone who went by Oda Sakunosuke. Chuuya couldn't understand why Dazai would leave for someone like this.
He didn't understand.
Was his loyalty not enough for the brunette? He always felt the need to protect Dazai and he was always able to carry out that job. He had made sure that nothing would get in Dazai's way through any means possible, be it something as simple as threats or just straight up murder. But he had made sure that Dazai would be satisfied.
So why wasn't he enough?
What did Oda Sakunosuke have that he didn't?
'Why him and not me?'
Oh, his lips were bleeding.
Chuuya sighed and threw the files on Oda Sakunosuke and Mimic onto the floor. He would burn them later.
His mind went back to Dazai. He had known everything about him and that was one of the multiple reasons why they were so compatible. Even without his ability, he was one of the Port Mafia's best martial artist. He was the only one with the combat skills to pair up with Dazai's frightening intelligence. They were practically made for each other and Dazai had known that.
So why did he leave?
Chuuya cursed under his breath. He should have tried harder to keep Dazai by his side. If something as stupid as some grunt's death was able to make Dazai leave, then it was just a reflection of Chuuya's inability to keep his partner.
They'll meet again one day and when that time comes, he was going to make sure that Dazai wouldn't leave. He had time, he was good at waiting.
He was right. It took four years but he was right. They would meet again.
"Chuuya~, have you come to visit me?" Dazai sang from his spot. He didn't get an answer which was a bit odd. He was so sure that Chuuya would have responded to him.
"Chuuya?"
The redhead still didn't give him a response. Instead, he just dropped his coat.
"...Four years..."
It was said so quietly that Dazai wasn't sure if he had heard it at all in the first place.
"Hm?" Chuuya was acting weird.
"It took four years for you to show up," Chuuya smiled just like when they were young, boyish and bright, but Dazai could tell something was wrong.
He moved closer until he was just an inch away and gripped Dazai by his hair.
"Ow," Dazai said but it was more for show than actual pain.
"Four years is still a long wait time, you know?" Chuuya said.
"Well, you know me. I have to make Chuuya's life as difficult as possible," Dazai replied back.
"Hm, is that so?" The redhead hummed.
Something was not right about Chuuya but he didn't have time to think about it because in the next moment, his head was slammed against the wall.
"ACK!"
When Chuuya removed his hand, his vision was completely disoriented and hazy but he was still able to make out the smile on Chuuya's face.
"Aren't...aren't you cruel?" Dazai felt a trail of blood trickle down the side of his face.
"You shouldn't be talking about "cruelty", Dazai. You're capable of much worse"
Like leaving me
"You're right but-"
Chuuya had placed a hand on Dazai's face and slammed it against the wall again, this time causing a small crater to form from the impact. He let go and watched as the brunette's head laid limp in the air, huffing as he tried to steady himself from the attack.
His partner was always violent but this was just different.
"Not gonna say anything?" Chuuya mocked.
If Dazai could think and hear properly, he would have glared at him. But the force of the two impacts from Chuuya wasn't something to take likely and he was feeling light headed over it.
"That's fine. You don't need to say anything," Chuuya took out his knife and grabbed Dazai by his neck. He held up the younger man so that they would make eye contact but Dazai's gaze was too unfocused to look at him properly.
"I even went easy on you. You really need to work on your pain endurance"
It was true, Chuuya would have been able to crush a grown man's skull without his ability. Dazai had witnessed it a few times.
The mafioso optioned his knife so that it was directly above the brunette's right eye, the one he covered when he was in the Port Mafia.
A chill went up Dazai's spine. He sincerely hoped that Chuuya wasn't going to do what he thought he's going to do. But the dark and empty gaze said otherwise.
Chuuya continued to hold the knife above Dazai's eye for a few more seconds before throwing it to the side, where it landed with a loud clang. Dazai visibly slumped in relief. He really didn't like pain.
"Just kidding," He grinned. Not really but he was going to save that for later. "That face you just made was probably worth ten billion yen just now"
It had taken an embarrassingly large amount for him to speak and the words had came out a bit slurred but he was sure Chuuya had been able to hear him well enough for his words to be coherent.
"What happened to you?" He whispered. This wasn't Chuuya, not the one he knew at least.
The redhead's gaze instantly darkened and went blank. Hell, it was almost as if the room had gotten colder too.
"You're smart, aren't you?" Chuuya placed a hand on Dazai's face, rubbing it almost lovingly. "Figure it out"
He wanted to turn away, turn away from whoever this was. He didn't care that his plan went wrong, that wasn't his main priority right now.
"You don't have an answer"
Chuuya sounded disappointed but there was a dangerous edge to his voice.
"That's fine too, I suppose"
He then broke the chains that were binding Dazai by pulling on them until they came off with a satisfying crunch. He did have to rely on his ability but that was a minor detail. Small pieces of iron fell from his grip and he watched as Dazai dropped to the floor.
"You taught this to Akutagawa before, remember?" Chuuya wrapped his hands around the bandaged neck. "Sorry but I'm not good at anatomy so it's going to be different"
He wasn't going to be able to identify the carotid artery cavity but it wasn't like he wasn't enjoying the expression on Dazai's face.
Dazai's hands wrapped around Chuuya's arms in a desperate attempt to remove them. It was futile of course. Even among the Port Mafia, his close combat skills and strength were below average and trying to go against the Port Mafia's strongest martial artist? Yeah, his efforts deserved a medal but it was all in vain.
His nails left small red crescents and dots of blood as he clutched even harder but it won't be long before he passed out. But it was as if Chuuya didn't even notice he was trying to claw at his arms. He just continued to smile serenely, like he couldn't understand why Dazai was trying to fight back.
Black dots danced in the corners of his vision and his hands were losing their strength.
"Shh, just let go, Osamu"
When Dazai woke up, the first thing he noticed were the soft sheets below him and the familiar smell of it. He blinked at the ceiling and let out a small groan and he pushed himself up. His coat was gone and something was off.
He pulled the blanket off of him and his veins turned cold. His eyes widened and his hands trembled violently.
His legs were gone. Everything below his knees was cut off and the sheets were still dyed red from his blood.
"Oh, you're awake," Chuuya got up from his chair and pushed it aside.
"Are you feeling better now?" He asked brightly and stood directly in front of the bed. "I didn't think you'd wake up so soon"
"C-Chuuya...?"
This was just a dream right? Chuuya would never cut off his legs like some insect on display.
"Ah, you're probably wondering where your legs went," Chuuya pulled out the two missing limbs from the floor and Dazai's eyes widened even more in horror. Chuuya's eyes looked almost black and it was unsettling.
Why would Chuuya-
"You don't need them anymore"
The sharp voice cut off his train of thought.
The redhead discarded the limbs away and pushed himself into Dazai's personal space. He caressed his cheek and pushed him back down onto the bed.
"You don't need to rely on anyone other than me"
He never thought he would grow to fear that voice, that person.
Dazai shook his head and an unwilling whimper broke free from his throat.
"I'll protect you just like I always do. You can trust me just like you always do. You'll listen right, Osamu?"
He tried to push Chuuya away but the redhead caught his arm and held it in an iron grip, chuckling darkly.
"You're crazy," Dazai muttered. Those four years apart must have done something to his former partner.
"I'm not. You just decided to leave when the thought should've never crossed your mind in the first place"
This was Dazai's fault, he left when he was supposed to stay. This was just the proper consequence.
"What the hell went wrong with you?"
"Should've known you wouldn't understand," Chuuya muttered. Why couldn't his stupid partner just accept his fate already? He was going to stay in this room for the rest of his life, where Chuuya could see him and properly monitor him.
If Dazai doesn't have his legs anymore, he can't run away again. But that clearly wasn't enough of a message.
Chuuya pulled out his knife and Dazai stopped struggling to pull his hand away.
"Chuuya, wait, don't-"
"Mm, I do like hearing you scream my name but you need to learn your place"
Should he have gouged out Dazai's eye earlier? Maybe, maybe not. But now was as good a time as any right?
Chuuya grimaced as he washed the blood off his knife. Some time while he was removing Dazai's right eye, he had passed out. Did he go too deep? No, he would never hurt Dazai like that. There was a clear difference between delivering a well deserved punishment and just being cruel.
And he wasn't being cruel. He was just making sure Dazai wasn't going to ever leave again. He knew what self control was. That was why he only removed the right eye. If Dazai were to try and leave (even without his legs and a missing eye, his mind was still too crafty for its own good), he could always remove the left one. And Dazai had ten fingers and lots of bones.
The light was going to burn Dazai anyways, Ane-san said so. So he really was just looking out for his partner.
That's right, Dazai doesn't need anyone other than him. That's how their partnership worked. They only needed each other to take on the world.
And this time, there would be no pesky gunman to steal Dazai's attention away. There would be no one to give him any false ideas about trying to find a life in the light, no false ideas about finding a life without Chuuya.
Finally done with washing his knife, he left it on the counter so he could pick up the container of formalin. Inside was a whiskey amber eye, one that would never blink.
It wasn't like he had to clean his knife much anyways. He had actually removed the eye with his own fingers and cut off the connecting flesh and veins. But he had thought it would be fun to try and stir it like a pot of soup. He remembered pushing his fingers around the corner of the socket and just dragging it out, motivated by painful screams and choked sobs.
Dazai didn't find it fun though.
But what Dazai liked didn't matter anymore. It was proven four years ago that he couldn't make the right judgement calls. That was why he was fooled into thinking he could leave the Port Mafia Chuuya for good. So that meant Chuuya would have to look out for him, just like when they were together.
No, they were always together. Dazai leaving for four years was just his belated rebellious phase and he was back now.
He belonged to Chuuya and no one was going to take Dazai away from him ever again.