[Solomon/Karl] Blood+ [Licorice]: Chapter 2

[anakiddwrites]

Solomon and Karl discuss their options now that all cards are on the table.

When Karl opened his eyes again, he found the familiar ceiling of his bedroom above him and immediately sighed in relief. He took a minute to reorient himself, rubbing his eyes and sitting on the bed slowly since his head was still slightly aching. His open hair fell on his shoulders, the ribbon of his ponytail gently placed on the night stand next to him.

“How do you feel?”

And at hearing that voice across the room, he just knew he had not been dreaming.

“... did he stab you???”

Karl turned to Solomon, seeing him casually sitting in the chair next to the door, watching him back with a calm smile.

“...oh.” Solomon blinked, his smile turning a little sad. “... so if I tell you it was just a dream...”

“Spare the bullshit.” Karl retorted, clutching his sheets. “Did Amshel stab you?!”

Solomon looked at his own shoes, avoiding Karl’s agitated stare and standing up to approach the bed in silence.

“That is... an interesting question to start after seeing all that. The short answer is, well, yes. It was necessary-”

“Necessary? So a vampire could eat you?!”

Solomon gazed at Karl with an empty smile that made him take a deep breath and calm down a bit, trying to gauge where Solomon’s logic could even be at that.

“I chose it, you know. I knew what was going to happen.” He sat on the edge of the bed, crossing his legs. “And now you know as well. I assume it does not sound appealing?”

“Was it appealing for you? Did you want that?”

“I had my reasons, but... well, you don’t need to understand or agree, of course.” Solomon’s smile returned with a hint of appreciation. “That’s why I showed you everything. I’m giving you the choice you deserve.”

Karl couldn’t look away from him, searching for any sign to help him to make sense of the mess he somehow got himself into. But, as nonsense as it was... he still wanted to believe his best friend. Even if he was apparently totally ok with being gutted open by his own older brother and fed to a vampire queen like a pig.

“She looks sixteen.” Karl added with a touch of disgust. “But she has the eyes of an old cougar. And why was she naked with Amshel? What the hell.”

“I assume you don’t fancy Diva, then?”

Karl hugged himself out of instinct, shivering a little.

“No offence, but, no thanks.” Truth to be told, he never had been charmed by any woman... but he did not want to bring up this topic to Solomon, at least not yet.

“Her eyes are the same as mine, though.” Solomon leaned closer, turning his eyes crimson again to reinforce his point. The sudden change made Karl wary for a split second, but he recovered fast and sustained the stare in return.

“Your eyes couldn’t be more different than hers.” Karl confessed with a soft huff, holding Solomon’s chin in a whim. “They do not scare me.”

They both froze for an instant, caught in the moment and unable to speak until Karl moved his hand away fast, feeling his face and fingers on fire out of embarrassment. And Solomon did not feel any different, but he forced himself to immediately conceal the sensations twirling in his stomach from the sudden touch of Karl’s delicate hand.

“... even... even after everything you saw?” Solomon whispered in a careful tone, looking away from Karl’s brutally honest eyes. “I’m not human, Karl. I’m different from you. We are from different worlds... and once you become part of it, there is no turning back.”

Karl picked up that Solomon sounded more bitter than he intended to let out, but there was only one way he could even respond to that.

“... pfff... for real now...?”

He started laughing out loud, throwing Solomon in a loop instantly.

“What’s... what’s funny, Karl?”

Karl had to take a minute to recover his breath before answering, even wiping some tears from laughing so unapologetically, shaking his head.

“Ah...! Tell me something new, Solomon!” He turned to his friend with a deep sigh, even if keeping the smile. “Solomon Goldsmith, Dr. Solomon Goldsmith, son of one of the richest families in France and the whole western world.”

Solomon blinked, visibly lost on what Karl was trying to say and he realised he would need to be extremely clear to his young white friend.

“We already are from different worlds.” He looked Solomon in the eye, firm and serious like Solomon never had seen him before. “All these vampire superpowers and have you never picked up the way so many people look at us when we are together? Or the whispers in the university about you and your cute asian pet?”

“You’re not... Karl. Who said that.” Solomon frowned slightly, and seeing his eyes turning red so naturally actually warmed up Karl’s heart. That was the Solomon he knew from day one, who treated him kindly and stood up for him every time he smelled injustice and bad faith in his direction.

“Who did not say that?” Karl scoffed and shrugged. “That’s the common sense in that place. Whatever. I play by the rules. I’m getting my degree. And if I cared about ‘different worlds’, I wouldn’t be hanging out with you to begin with. If I can trust a white rich guy, I can easily trust a vampire.”

Solomon had no answer for that and his expression reflected his disbelief, along with his silent admiration for Karl growing stronger.

“It’s... It’s still you there, after all. Right?” Karl continued, risking a smile and a pat to Solomon’s shoulder. “Unless you’re planning to stab me and eat me too, right here.”

“N-no. No, I would never... Karl...”

“I thought so. I don’t think you would. And you told me the truth once again.” His smile brightened up genuinely. “I thank you for that, Solomon. My friend.”

Despite the warm words, Solomon only felt restless and hit with overwhelming guilt in his heart, along with a sudden sense of urgency coming to his eyes.

“You can’t go there tomorrow.” He suddenly held Karl’s both hands, his own even colder and more shaky than usual. “You can’t meet Diva. You just can’t.”

“Ah... w-well...” Karl tried to ignore his heart racing at the sudden touch, even if he had craved for the feeling of Solomon’s hands more than once. Never in such extreme circumstances though. “I guess... I’ll need to decline meeting your mother, yes... ha ha...”

Solomon’s quiet despair and trembling lips told Karl everything he needed to know.

“... you.. you shouldn’t have told me... all that... right...” Karl guessed, his own hands starting to shake as well and a sense of doom luring in his heart.

A simple ‘no, thanks’ wouldn’t suffice.

“It’s alright.” Solomon lied, squeezing Karl’s hands and offering a forced smile. “I can fix it. I’ll deal with Nii-san. I’ll convince him to give up on you, somehow. I’ll find a way.”

“Amshel, heh...” Karl huffed, restless with the tone Solomon was talking now. He clearly had not the leverage he was trying to convey. “Was it his decision... what the hell... why me?”

“Nii-san just decided.” Solomon nodded, his voice turning dull. “I don’t know his reasons... but he is also Diva’s Chevalier, and responsible for bring more potential candidates to serve her. And he chose you.”

“Huh.” Karl sighed deeply, shaking his head. “Just like he chose you? So he’s the one stabbing me?”

“T-that’s not... anyway. Leave it to me, you don’t have to do this. It won’t be good to anyone, I’ll make Nii-san see it.”

“Solomon...” He looked up, doing his best to not scream his lungs out. He had seen Amshel once, and he had the same eyes of the people who saw him as a pet.

Deep down, he knew there was no easy way out.

“... is that the reason... you sat next to me in that class?”

“No, never!” Solomon jolted, his features returning to life in a blink and looking directly into Karl’s eyes. “T-that was before... truth to be told, I... I wasn’t comfortable with the way everyone looked at me in the university... polite and smiling, but watching me as if they wanted something out of me. I’m sick of it, for my whole life, it’s just... like that. Humans just can’t be trusted.”

He looked down to their hands, holding Karl’s like a lifeline.

“But you... you were different. Your eyes also never scared me. But I also should apologise for it. I was... I think I was looking for a safe shore in you. Pathetic and selfish, I know.”

“... safe.. shore... me?”

Solomon had no clue of how Karl had been thrown in a loop by that confession. He couldn’t deny he always felt protected under Solomon’s wing and often wondered if he was abusing his trust, so to hear the other saw him as a safe place just made his heart pound even stronger.

Plus, Solomon never looked so vulnerable in front of him before, fear and doubt all over his face and holding his hands like a lost lamb that could crumble at any time. But it just made Karl even more protective and willing to get out of that impossible mess.

Hopefully, getting the both of them out of it.

“You don’t have to apologise for that.” He grinned with bright eyes, squeezing his hands back and leaning closer to him. “I’m happy to be your safe shore, Solomon.”

“Karl...?”

“T-to be honest, I’m scared, of course. I’m just a human... I don’t think Amshel gonna let me off the hook so easily, but I’m not going to give up without a fight.”

Solomon’s eyes sparkled with renewed admiration for the determination all over his friend’s expression. Despite the reasonable fears, he was willing to face horrors beyond comprehension that he just had been told about. A human so fragile that a slap from a Chevalier could crush into pieces, but stubbornly clinging to life in the same proportion.

Solomon smiled genuinely for the first time that night, reminded of how Karl challenged all the negative feelings he had fostered for humanity since the first moment they crossed paths. His resentment, his sense of superiority as a Chevalier, all the human cruelty he wished to forget were falling pale in comparison to his brave friend navigating a society that had been cruel to him in ways Solomon would never experience.

Perhaps a little more than friend, but Solomon wouldn’t dare to risk their bond with selfish, broken feelings he also didn’t want to confront. Karl was there for him and it was already so much more than he believed to deserve.

He wouldn’t ask for anything else.

“You do not need to fight.” Solomon declared with all his determination, too. “It’s... almost midnight now, the first train starts in four hours. Enough time for us to arrange everything. Italy, probably, then a boat to Greece. You can reach Morocco from there in safety.”

“... what...”

“I’ll keep Nii-san busy in the meantime. And talk to Diva. She doesn’t know you yet, so she won’t be angry... Nii-san is better at convincing her, but I have my ways too.”

Karl’s expression turned cold as stone, piercing Solomon’s empty smile with a sharp stare.

“... you’re telling me to run away like a coward? And throw you alone to the wolves?”

“I am the wolves, Karl.” Solomon insisted with a deep sigh. “I dragged you in this mess. It’s the right thing for me to take responsibility.”

“You just told me it was Amshel’s decision?!”

“Yes, but...” Sadness and guilt made it’s way to his expression again. “I let it happen. He told me to warm you up to meet Diva and I didn’t question him.. until the very last second. I should have protected you better... I should have known you aren’t like me. Like us. It’s not right to drag you along to our darkness.”

Karl wasn’t sure what ‘like us’ would mean, but Solomon’s shaking hands said everything he needed to know about him being a wolf or not.

“I’m no sheep, though.” He said bluntly. “I have my pride. Damn, if I have to lose everything... my education, my family... I don’t want to be all alone in hecking Italy, paranoid if Amshel is coming for me or not. And my family? Solomon, I can’t risk him going for them. I can’t just leave them behind to save my skin.”

Karl could feel himself also shaking against his will, more nervous about involving his family than anything regarding his own safety. And Solomon’s sudden wide eyes and face turning even paler betrayed he had a point.

Solomon realized that Amshel wouldn’t spare the Fei-ong if that meant getting revenge on Karl’s escape and only hell could come from it. Suddenly, everything felt too bleak to deal and he started to question if telling the truth had been the right course of action.

And taking Amshel in a fight was out of question. They had no chance to win.

“.. let’s fight him. There is no other way, right?” Karl said in a rush, squeezing Solomon’s hands. “There must be a weakness, right? You are also a “Chevalier”, so you must be strong, right? A-and fire?? Fire should at least damage him, right?? Like a demon, right?? I can do that!”

“You can’t.” Solomon declared, deadpan. “The only weakness is the twin queen blood, Saya, that can kill Diva’s Chevaliers once and for all. And she’s hibernating now.”

“T-twin... blood...? Saya?”

“Even if I am strong, I’m no challenge for Nii-san. Karl. I’m sorry, but the only way... you need to flee for safety. I‘ll make sure to keep your family safe too, with my money and connections... so you can reunite later. And forget about all this.”

“... and forget about you...?”

His voice came out even more sad and miserable than Karl anticipated, his heart dropping and aching like never before.

“It’s for the best. Please, don’t make this face. You have a wonderful human life ahead of you. And... I’m glad I got to meet you, even if for a brief time. We did have fun, right?”

“Don’t talk like you’re going to die?! Solomon!” Karl screamed in frustration, frowning and getting restless as well. “You can’t just do that, damn! Who do you think you are?”

“K-Karl...?” Solomon leaned back, surprised with the determination Karl was confronting him.

“Calling me a safe shore, showing me all these things, then deciding everything for yourself... if you wanted to give me a choice, then give me the damn choice!” He basically growled, baring his fangs to Solomon. “And I’m not running away like a dog! If I’m going down, I’m going down my way.”

They stared at each other in silence, not daring to look away for a second and feeling the weight of all the stakes between then, the conflicts and divide but also the undoubted care they held for one another surfacing at full force in response to a crisis apparently larger than life.

“Karl...” Solomon grinned, feeling a sparkle of life in his heart again. “I didn’t know this side of you.”

“There is a lot you don’t know about me...” He huffed, visibly tense. “Sorry for ruining the perfectly kind and innocent human image you had. I need to play along to survive that nest of white snakes.”

“You didn’t ruin anything at all, my dear friend!” Solomon sounded genuinely upbeat and bright. “It’s the opposite. I’m happy to see all sides of you. I mean it.”

Karl relaxed his shoulders, a bit too self-conscious about his cheeks burning red now.

“And you’re right, I can’t just... decide it all for you. But I want to protect you. Karl. Do you have any idea? What do you want to do?”

“I...” Karl suddenly felt dumb, full of big talk when he didn’t have a plan. “If anything, I wish I could face Amshel head on... and stand on my ground to say no. But if not even fire works... haha...”

He scratched his nape, gazing at Solomon as the start of a wild idea started to slowly switch the gears inside his brain.

“Solomon...”

The words about to leave his mouth sounded insane, but still more inviting than taking a train to Italy.

“... can Chevaliers... make other vampires?”