Vanitas groaned, pulling himself up from the wet, filthy ground, Noé mirroring him a few moments away. They were both dead on their feet, bleeding and bruised. It was a miracle they had been able to escape, though their chosen alleyway wasn't the nicest place to be seeking respite. They stumbled upon it accidentally in a mad dash, tripping over themselves to reach its dark embrace. There was no telling how long they had before danger would be snapping at their heels again.

They were too weak. That was the unavoidable truth of it. If they kept going as they were they would die, enemies outstripping their abilities too far. Vanitas was a human and Noé, though comparatively more powerful, had no way to hold his own against other vampires with combat prowess. He could barely rewrite the world formula. However, that problem could be solved. Vanitas thought so anyway. It wasn't as though Noé didn't have the potential.

"You're so feeble because something happened to your eye as a kid, right?"

"Hey!" Noé barked, automatically reacting to the perceived insult.

"Is it true or not?"

"Yes... In a sense." He narrowed his eyes.

"Good. That's good." Vanitas brushed the hair from his face and laughed. "I'm thinking of taking a page out of your teacher's book on this one. He's certainly got some interesting eyes."

"What are you talking-"

"Say, Noé, how would you like one of mine?"

"Huh?"

Vanitas grinned. "A blue eye like that, I think I know where he got it. If Luna's eye is so special he'd replace one of his own, one of mine is the next best thing. They're not vampire eyes but they still have the power of the blue moon clan."

"You're telling me... to take your eye?"

"That's the gist of it." Vanitas extended his hand in invitation. "Come, Noé."

"Wait, what? You can't just use someone else's eye!"

"I can't. Humans can't." He poked Noé's chest, hard. "Vampires can. If you replace yours with mine you'll be stronger."

"You're asking me to do this?" Noé lurched toward him, clawed hand stopping an inch from Vanitas's right eye. He blanched when Vanitas didn't so much as flinch.

"That's right." Vanitas showed his teeth. "I'm not offering this lightly. By all rights you should be more powerful, Archiviste."

"There has to be something else we can do. This is insane."

"Look at us, Noé. If we can't pull something 'insane' we won't be able to compete. I know this will work. It might only keep us alive one more day, but you can do a lot in a day."

"Vanitas, I'm not rejecting your offer outright. I only think we should consider our options more carefully." Noé started to pull his hand back.

Vanitas's fingers locked around his wrist.

"You have two choices here, Noé." Vanitas drew him closer until the point of his longest claw was pressing against his top eyelid. "Either you gouge my eye out within the next ten seconds or I'll push your fingers in myself. We both know which will be messier."

"Vani-"

"Wasting your ten seconds."

"Are you sure?"

"I wouldn't give this to just anyone. You believe I'd discard a piece of myself on a whim?"

Noé wanted to argue that he would. Remind him of how he had sat back while Doctor Moreau's thumb eased towards his eye. How he would have already lost it had Noé not stepped in. Even so, Vanitas seemed sincere in his proposition and the logic behind it. Noé couldn't pretend to understand it fully, he'd have to trust Vanitas's judgement or call his bluff, tear himself free from the vise on his arm.

Noé took a deep breath, steadying his shaky hand, then he pushed forward. Vanitas cried out, gripping his wrist tighter, gloves digging in deep enough to draw blood. If he asked Noé to stop he would. Noé wanted him to. He didn't. Vanitas grit his teeth and held Noé tighter, dragging him deeper instead of pushing him away.

Appallingly, something stirred in Noé at the feeling of Vanitas's warm blood flowing over his fingers, scent filling his nostrils. Though, irregardless of whatever hunger it awakened, everything else sent his stomach churning. Vanitas's eye was pulpous, so much so Noé was afraid it might pop. Easing his fingers inside, behind the eye cavity, forced Vanitas's skin to warp around him, resisting every millimetre of progress. Eventually, among the wet, feverish flesh he met the long nerve keeping Vanitas's eye anchored. With a first, firm tug that nerve snapped with remarkable ease and Vanitas grunted like he was biting down as hard as be could on the skin of his lips and cheeks. As Noé drew his prize from its socket it oozed with a mixture of tears and blood and something else, a foul discharge he couldn't name.

Vanitas released him once it was entirely disconnected. He fell to the ground without that support, clutching his face and cursing loudly. His remaining eye stared up at Noé nevertheless, shining with intensity. There was no backing out now. Slowly, Noé raised the hand not gently clutching Vanitas's eye. He needed to make room for it.

Somehow, though he cared less about sustaining injuries himself than giving them to Vanitas, it was more difficult to force his fingers forward. Some inescapable instinct to protect oneself making his brain work into overdrive to halt his movements. Yet Vanitas's gaze was stronger. He plunged into his impotent right eye.

Noé bent double, panting as he shoved his fingers deeper, pushing his eyelids out of the way and grasping against the slippery surface of his eye. It felt repulsive for his rough skin to be all over the delicate tissue, the sensation too much in both directions. He couldn't take it. Couldn't be as purposeful as he had with Vanitas.

He didn't need the eye intact anyway.

Noé constricted his grip, throwing his head back and roaring as his eye burst. There was a spectacular twist in his gut as it splattered both inside and out. Trembling, he tore his hand away, what was left of his eye pulp in his hold. To the touch it was like a soggy mush of food that had been left in the sink. Pieces of deflated tissue and leakage ran down his cheek and from his fingers with the consistency of curdled milk. A not insignificant amount of regret washed over him for the impulsivity.

"Christ, Noé," Vanitas breathed.

"Help..." He didn't want to ask while Vanitas was still recovering, but he needed it. He was fit to keel over.

Vanitas's hands were steadying his shoulders one moment then the next he was gently prising his own eye from Noé's grip. He pulled some things from the pockets at his waist and Noé was only vaguely aware of his movements until something was pressing against his face. He jerked away instinctively, stopping when Vanitas firmly gripped his chin and pulled him closer again.

He cleaned the area around his eye, Noé barely containing his shuddering the entire time, adrenaline and anticipation rattling him. Then what he was dreading came. Vanitas probing inside the yawning cavity, touching what should never have been exposed to the open air. Noé's leg bounced violently up and down, needing to move so he didn't tear himself away entirely. It was worse than a bug crawling beneath his skin,  so wrong and invasive he wanted to scream. Mercifully, Vanitas's touch vanished in time.

"Sorry, I don't know if this will be sterile enough, it's the best I can do."

"It's fine," was all he could manage.

"Well, shall I put it in or you?"

"Me. Me. I'll do it." He reached out and Vanitas allowed him to take his eye.

Noé held his eyelids wide and agonisingly inched it home. He hadn't anticipated the way it didn't quite fit, not the way his old one had. There was a grating negative space that itched at the edge of his consciousness, demanding he unabatingly acknowledge it. It didn't take immediately either, sight still limited for a long enough moment he thought he and Vanitas had mutilated themselves for naught.

Then his body started integrating the foreign organ and the world exploded into new depth. Vanitas was right, his weren't vampire eyes, but they weren't without power either. It made the world brighter, sharper, supernaturally so. And there was something else, something he couldn't put his finger on. He would have to ask Vanitas later.

"It worked," he gasped.

"Good." Vanitas gave him a light tap on the cheek before falling back against the alley wall. "Doesn't look bad on you."

"Thanks," the response was muted. "Are you all right?"

"I'm only as bad as you, though I'll need an eyepatch." Vanitas brushed his hair over his face to hide the hole. "Ugh, I hope this doesn't get infected."

Noé stared at him through new eyes, unsure what to do with himself. How to thank Vanitas for giving him something so valuable. Eyes were important to vampires, almost spiritually so. To own another person's... Noé ducked his head, covering his mouth with his hand. It wasn't entirely clear whether such a thing was blasphemous or divine.

"If you're going to throw up, kindly do it away from me." Vanitas wrinkled his nose. "And don't you dare lick that blood from your hand."

"I wasn't going to- never mind. Thank you, Vanitas."

"Take care of it, Noé. And welcome to the clan of the blue moon."