Chapter Warnings: Character death, blood (marrow), swearing

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Rurik was woken by the sound of muffled footsteps downstairs. Assuming it was Lotus puttering about in the kitchen, he rubbed the sleep from his sockets and glanced at the clock on his phone; the display read 1:13 am... his partner usually didn't get up to make breakfast until six. Searching his groggy mind for an answer, he settled on a nightmare being the most plausible. In any case, if his boyfriend wasn't in the room pestering him to wake up, he could only assume it wasn't a bad one.

Content to get a few more hours of shuteye, he rolled over to go back to sleep... but a muffled voice, one that was far too low and rough to belong to Lotus, had his sockets shooting open again. With his senses now on high alert, he jumped out of bed, snatched his knife holster off the nightstand in the process, and crept to the door.

Pushing the door open slightly, multiple hushed voices joined the footfalls. Through the landing's balusters, beams of light could be seen sweeping around the first floor; from the looks of it, some dumbasses had broken into the house.

Lamenting his lost sleep, Rurik eased the door open enough for him to slip through and snuck out onto the landing. He tensed as a nearby shadowed figure startled at his entrance onto the landing, but before he could lash out, the dim shine of a solitary red eye light revealed it was only Lotus. His silhouette was barely recognizable in the bulky black hoodie and sweatpants that made up his sleepwear, a stark contrast from his sleek cloak and scarf. He must have been woken up by noise downstairs as well.

Lotus seemed to visibly relax, going back to watching the scene below from his spot overlooking the first floor... though his eye light and the barely audible rattle of bones still gave away his nerves. Keeping low, Rurik took up a spot next to him. Catching each other's glances, he pointed down, held up five fingers, then shifted the scythe next to him and held up two fingers; five intruders, two of which were armed.

Rurik knew he would be fine down there, but his partner's scythe was too unwieldy for a brawl inside a house. Lotus wasn't suited for close combat anyways... maybe they could use a pincer attack to overwhelm their 'guests'; he would fight on the ground floor while cover fire was provided by bone constructs from the safety of the upper landing. Silently relaying the plan, he waited for a nod of confirmation before standing up and pulling his knife free from its holster. He wouldn't bother with the stairs; a quick drop onto his first target would give him the element of surprise and preferably send the rest into a panic.

He vaulted over the railing once a shadow got into position below, landing square on top of them and smirking at the startled yelp they produced as he sunk his knife into its target. Yanking the knife out, he found his footing and scanned his surroundings for the next closest target. A whoosh beside him let him know his first victim was a monster; now it was a sad pile of dust.

Four left.

Four figures rushed toward him; one stopped short as another next to them was impaled by a set of jagged bones and dusted moments later. Risking a glance upward as he parried a knife strike, Rurik spotted Lotus preparing a second volley of bones; unfortunately, the one that stopped had broken off to make his way up the stairs.

"Incoming!" Rurik warned his partner, quickly focusing back on his own two enemies. One slashed at him with what appeared to be claws, prompting him to sidestep their attack and plunge the knife into their back, earning a satisfying howl of pain and another whoosh of dust.

Two more.

This enemy was much quicker than the other, matching Rurik's counters and dodges with his own. If it weren't for the fact that he was fighting for his and Lotus's lives, this might have actually been a fun sparring match; it was a pity he would have to kill the guy-

"Rurik, up!" Lotus's voice cut through his focus; the panic laced in it jarred him from the rhythm he had fallen into. Looking up, he just barely avoided the enemy that had intended to drop down for a sneak attack. Rurik rounded on the new adversary, only to grunt as a knife from the enemy he had been fighting previously tore into his right clavicle. He slashed outward to gain some distance, hissing at the flash of pain the movement caused.

The enemy attempted to advance once more, jumping back as jagged bones from Lotus rained from the upper landing. The jumper cried out as one of the bones stabbed into their right leg, pinning them into the floor; Rurik lunged forward, finishing the job and leaving the solitary enemy standing in the dust-strewn living room.

The last one.

As Rurik stepped forward, the remaining figure seemed to think better of their situation and bolted for the door, wrenching it open and disappearing into the night. The skeleton stomped toward the open door, gripping the frame. He shouted, "Yeah, run like the coward you are! Next time, stay out you piece of shit." Inspecting the door, he discovered the lock had been scratched up and broken beyond repair, "Great, that'll need to be replaced."

A dim light clicked on behind him as he slammed the door closed. He turned to see Lotus rushing from his now-illuminated bedroom and down the stairs with a white box under his arm; flicking the living room's light switch on as he hit the ground floor, he strode over to the couch, "Come sit down."

"I'm fine; worry about your own injury," Rurik replied, gesturing to the cut on the smaller's cheek.

Lotus glared at him, clenching the handle on top of the box, "Your injury is worse. I know you don't like it, but no matter how tough you think are, you still need to get that wound treated so it doesn't become infected."

"I'm. Fine," Rurik bit out as he glared right back.

Lotus closed his sockets, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly before opening them once more, "Rurik, please."

Rurik debated refusing a third time... but the way his companion's glare fell into something sadder drained the will to argue out of him. With a huff of resignation, he made his way over and flopped onto the couch next to Lotus.

The skeleton pulled aside the strap of Rurik's the black tank top to get a better look at the injury, which was now slowly leaking marrow. "Hmm...," his sockets furrowed as he mumbled, "it looks like the cut's almost completely through your collarbone." Pulling out a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a cotton ball, he unscrewed the cap, tipped the bottle against the cotton, and capped the bottle, setting it aside.

"I'll need to clean the area; this might sting a bit," Lotus warned, scooting closer; true to his words, the rubbing alcohol burned into the cut as he cleaned it. Rurik flinched, gritting his teeth and fighting the desire to pull away from each swipe. Luckily, the cotton ball was quickly replaced with some gauze and a bandage.

As Lotus replaced the unused supplies and carried the medkit back upstairs, he let out the breath he didn't realize he had been holding and moved his top's strap back into place on his shoulder.

Glancing around the room, it looked like the would-be burglars hadn't managed to do more than rummage around in a few drawers and closets, and nothing looked to be missing; there was some damage to the walls and floor in addition to the broken deadbolt, along with blood and dust scattered around the room that would need to be cleaned up... but all in all, the outcome was manageable.

He watched as Lotus came back down the stairs, a new bandage on his right cheek... it really drove home how much worse things could have been. Rurik shook the thought from his mind before it developed into something more vivid.

"So, what now?" Lotus asked, taking a seat next to him.

"Well... it's too damn early and I'm tired as hell, so I'm going to bed; the lock can be dealt with in the morning," Rurik stated, standing and trudging up the staircase as he stretched, "You com-ngh!" At least, he attempted to stretch until his injured collarbone reminded him not to.

"I...," Lotus paused. Rurik stopped halfway up the stairs to stare when the silence stretched on; the smaller monster's gaze never left the door as he said, "I think I'm going to stay up for a bit."

"Suit yourself. Night," the taller shrugged, traversing the remaining stairs and passing Lotus's room to reach his own. After what happened, his companion probably just needed a couple of minutes to settle down.

Rurik yawned as he shut the door to his bedroom, crossing the room and falling onto the bed while avoiding his injured shoulder. Rolling onto his uninjured side he absently tapped the phone's display; 1:47 am, plenty of time to sleep.

Pulling up the covers, he closed his sockets and emptied his mind.

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Word Count: 1,566